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Important update from TheSchoolRun

For the past 13 years, TheSchoolRun has been run by a small team of mums working from home, dedicated to providing quality educational resources to primary school parents. Unfortunately, rising supplier costs and falling revenue have made it impossible for us to continue operating, and we’ve had to make the difficult decision to close. The good news: We’ve arranged for another educational provider to take over many of our resources. These will be hosted on a new portal, where the content will be updated and expanded to support your child’s learning.

What this means for subscribers:

  • Your subscription is still active, and for now, you can keep using the website as normal — just log in with your usual details to access all our articles and resources*.
  • In a few months, all resources will move to the new portal. You’ll continue to have access there until your subscription ends. We’ll send you full details nearer the time.
  • As a thank you for your support, we’ll also be sending you 16 primary school eBooks (worth £108.84) to download and keep.

A few changes to be aware of:

  • The Learning Journey weekly email has ended, but your child’s plan will still be updated on your dashboard each Monday. Just log in to see the recommended worksheets.
  • The 11+ weekly emails have now ended. We sent you all the remaining emails in the series at the end of March — please check your inbox (and spam folder) if you haven’t seen them. You can also follow the full programme here: 11+ Learning Journey.

If you have any questions, please contact us at [email protected]. Thank you for being part of our journey it’s been a privilege to support your family’s learning.

*If you need to reset your password, it will still work as usual. Please check your spam folder if the reset email doesn’t appear in your inbox.

What your child learns in Key Stage 1 science

Little girl looking at flower through microscope
You may well struggle to remember what you learned in Years 1 and 2 in science – and things have moved on a lot anyway. So swot up on what your child will be taught with this quick guide.

Throughout Key Stage 1 science lessons, your child will be learning about the importance of asking questions, gathering evidence, carrying out experiments and looking at different ways of presenting their results. Lessons are practical and will focus on the world around them. 

Science skills in KS1

In Key Stage 1 your child will learn to use the following methods, processes and skills:

  • asking simple questions (for example, 'What would happen if I didn't give a plant water?')
  • observing closely, using simple equipment such as a magnifying glass
  • identifying and classifying
  • using their observations and ideas to suggest answers to questions
  • gathering and recording data to help in answering questions

Year 1 science

Under the new 2014 national curriculum, children in Year 1 will learn about:

  • Plants, identifying and naming plants and looking at their basic structure
  • Animals including humans, identifying and naming a range of animals and understanding how and why they are grouped (e.g. mammals, birds, amphibians etc)
  • Everyday materials, looking at their properties
  • Seasonal changes, observing changes across the four seasons and looking at different types of weather

Year 2 science 

Children will be looking at:

  • Living things and their habitats, including dependence within habitats and micro-habitats
  • Plants, observing how seeds and bulbs grow into plants and what plants need to stay healthy
  • Animals including humans, focusing on reproduction, nutrition and exercise
  • Everyday materials, comparing their uses and looking at how they can be changed by exerting force

Help your child with KS1 science at home

  • Show your child plants or pictures of plants, such as apple trees, tomato plants, sweet corn, and cabbages and ask them why it is important for humans to grow plants.
  • Plant seeds at home. Talk about the things plants need to grow, such as soil, water, light and air. Help them to observe the changes as the plants begin to grow.
  • Do you have a pet? Help your child to point out the similarities between animals and humans. Do we both have arms, legs, eyes, ears and a nose? Do we both need food, water and sleep?
  • Talk to your child about sources of light. Walk around your environment and point them out: timer switches, clock radio, computer, lamp, light bulb, street lamps, the sun and moon. Which are bright or dim?
  • Link science to real life. Talk about how things were in the past and how scientific advances have brought changes. Share books that show non-electrical or old household appliances.
  • Give your child a collection of items made from different materials – paper, cardboards, plastics, metals – and ask them to find different ways of grouping them (rough, smooth, shiny, dull or plastic, metal, wood, fabric).
  • Point out materials that are found naturally and those that are not (twigs, unpolished/unfinished wood, sand, rocks, water, bone, clay, wool, glass, plastic, paper, cardboard). Ask your child to try sorting the materials into those they thinks are found naturally.
  • Talk to your child about how natural materials are changed to make everyday objects. Use resources to help your child learn about the processes involved.