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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 2 science

Light bulb on blackboard
Want to know more about what your child gets up to in science class at school? Here’s your guide to the topics they’ll cover.

Science in Years 3 and 4

In Years 3 and 4, children will be encouraged to ask questions about scientific concepts and then carry out experiments to find out the answers. In doing this they will:
 

  • learn what a 'fair test' is.
  • take measurements from a range of equipment.
  • gather and record data.
  • report their findings orally and in writing.

Science in Years 5 and 6

In Years 5 and 6, children will continue to practise the above skills, but with more depth and precision. When carrying out experiments they will:
 

  • understand what variables are and how to control them.
  • take measurements from a range of equipment, understanding the need for repeated measures to increase accuracy.
  • gather and record data using labels, classification keys, tables, scatter graphs, bar and line graphs.
  • use test results to make further predictions to set up further comparative and fair tests.
  • make conclusions on the test carried out, orally and in writing.

Key Stage 2 science topics year by year

Year 3 science

  • Plants, including parts of plants, needs of plants and their life cycle.
  • Animals, including humans, focusing on nutrition, skeletons and muscles.
  • Rocks, including comparing rocks, looking at fossils and understanding how soil is made.
  • Light, looking at how light is reflected, how shadows are formed and can change.
  • Forces and magnets, focusing on attraction and repulsion of magnets, magnetic materials and the two poles of a magnet.

Year 4 science

  • Living things and their habitats, including classifying living things and looking at changes to environments.
  • Animals, including humans, focusing on eating: teeth, the digestive system and food chains.
  • States of matter, including grouping materials, changing state, evaporation and condensation.
  • Sound, looking at creation of sound through vibration and changes in pitch and volume.
  • Electricity, including constructing a circuit and understanding conductors and insulators.

Year 5 science

  • Living things and their habitats, including life cycles of a mammal, amphibian, insect and bird.
  • Animals, including humans, focusing on changes from birth to old age.
  • Properties and changes of materials, including dissolving, separating and reversible changes.
  • Earth and space, looking at the movement of the sun, earth and moon.
  • Forces, including gravity, air resistance, water resistance and friction.

Year 6 science

  • Living things and their habitats, including classifying micro-organisms, plants and animals.
  • Animals, including humans, focusing mainly on diet and exercise.
  • Evolution and inheritance, looking at fossils, reproduction and adaptation.
  • Light, looking closely at how it travels and how shadows are made.
  • Electricity, analysing the function of lamps, buzzers, cells and switches.