"National curriculum science" is typed in the UK about 1,300 times a month, mostly by parents trying to work out what their child should have covered by the end of a year, which is harder than it sounds because the Department for Education publishes the programmes of study as long documents and schools present the same content under their own unit names. This page lists every statutory topic by year group, using the headings exactly as the national curriculum in England prints them, from Year 1 to Year 11, explains what "working scientifically" means, shows how Key Stage 4 becomes GCSE combined or separate sciences, says what is tested and when, and gives a printable checklist to tick off topic by topic.
Download the national curriculum science checklist (PDF) (A4, Year 1 to 6 on page 1, KS3 and KS4 on page 2, every topic with a tick box, free).
How the curriculum is organised
Science is a core subject (with English and maths) through all four key stages, so it is compulsory from Year 1 to Year 11. The programmes of study were published in 2013 and 2014 and are the ones still in force. Primary science is set out year by year (Year 1 to Year 6, with Year 3 and 4 grouped as lower Key Stage 2 and Year 5 and 6 as upper Key Stage 2). Secondary science is set out by key stage and by discipline: a KS3 list for Year 7 to 9 and a KS4 list for Year 10 and 11, each split into biology, chemistry and physics. Schools may teach a topic earlier than the year it is listed; they may not leave it out.
Each key stage also has a working scientifically section: the enquiry skills that must be taught through the content rather than as a unit of their own.
The government's Curriculum and Assessment Review has been examining the whole national curriculum; until any revised programme of study is published and given a start date, the 2014 content below is what schools must teach. Check gov.uk each September for changes.
Key Stage 1 (Year 1 and 2, ages 5 to 7)
| Year | Statutory topics | What that means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | Plants; Animals, including humans; Everyday materials; Seasonal changes | Name common plants and trees and their parts; name common animals, sort them (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals; carnivore, herbivore, omnivore), name body parts and the senses; name everyday materials (wood, plastic, glass, metal, water, rock) and describe their properties; observe weather and day length across the four seasons |
| Year 2 | Living things and their habitats; Plants; Animals, including humans; Uses of everyday materials | Living, dead, never alive; habitats and simple food chains; seeds and bulbs growing, what plants need; animals' offspring and basic needs, exercise, food and hygiene; why materials are chosen for particular uses, and squashing, bending, twisting and stretching |
Working scientifically at KS1: asking simple questions, observing closely, performing simple tests, identifying and classifying, gathering and recording data.
Lower Key Stage 2 (Year 3 and 4, ages 7 to 9)
| Year | Statutory topics | What that means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| Year 3 | Plants; Animals, including humans; Rocks; Light; Forces and magnets | Functions of roots, stem, leaves and flowers, water transport, pollination and seed dispersal; nutrition, skeletons and muscles; comparing rocks, how fossils form, soils; light and dark, reflection, the Sun's danger, shadows; contact and non-contact forces, magnets attracting and repelling, magnetic materials |
| Year 4 | Living things and their habitats; Animals, including humans; States of matter; Sound; Electricity | Grouping living things, classification keys, environmental change; the digestive system, teeth, food chains; solids, liquids and gases, melting, freezing, evaporation, condensation and the water cycle; sound as vibration, pitch and volume; simple series circuits, switches, conductors and insulators |
Working scientifically at lower KS2: setting up fair tests, making systematic observations and measurements with a range of equipment, recording findings in tables and bar charts, drawing simple conclusions.
Upper Key Stage 2 (Year 5 and 6, ages 9 to 11)
| Year | Statutory topics | What that means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| Year 5 | Living things and their habitats; Animals, including humans; Properties and changes of materials; Earth and space; Forces | Life cycles of mammals, amphibians, insects and birds, reproduction in plants and animals; changes as humans develop to old age; comparing materials (hardness, solubility, conductivity), dissolving, separating mixtures, reversible and irreversible changes; the Sun, Earth and Moon, day and night; gravity, air and water resistance, friction, levers, pulleys and gears |
| Year 6 | Living things and their habitats; Animals including humans; Evolution and inheritance; Light; Electricity | Classifying into broad groups including micro-organisms; the circulatory system, diet, exercise and drugs; fossils, inheritance, adaptation and evolution; light travelling in straight lines, how we see, shadows; voltage, brightness, buzzers and circuit symbols |
Working scientifically at upper KS2: planning different types of enquiry, controlling variables, taking precise measurements, recording with scatter graphs and line graphs, using evidence to support or refute ideas.
Testing. There is no statutory science test for every Year 6 pupil. Teachers assess against the science framework and report whether the child has met the expected standard; a national sample of schools sits a science test every two years for monitoring only. Science matters for the 11-plus only in a few regions whose papers include it.
Key Stage 3 (Year 7 to 9, ages 11 to 14)
The KS3 programme is organised by discipline, and each school decides how to spread it across the three years:
| Discipline | Statutory topics |
|---|---|
| Biology | Structure and function of living organisms (cells, the skeletal and muscular systems, nutrition and digestion, gas exchange, reproduction, health); Material cycles and energy (photosynthesis, cellular respiration); Interactions and interdependencies (relationships in an ecosystem); Genetics and evolution (inheritance, chromosomes, DNA and genes) |
| Chemistry | The particulate nature of matter; Atoms, elements and compounds; Pure and impure substances; Chemical reactions; Energetics; The periodic table; Materials; Earth and atmosphere |
| Physics | Energy; Motion and forces; Waves; Electricity and electromagnetism; Matter (physical changes, particle model, energy in matter); plus Space physics (gravity, the solar system, the seasons, light years) |
Working scientifically at KS3 is divided into scientific attitudes, experimental skills and investigations, analysis and evaluation, and measurement (SI units, prefixes, significant figures).
Testing. There are no national tests at KS3. Many schools run end-of-year exams, and most set GCSE groups at the end of Year 8 or Year 9. A child who reaches Year 9 with gaps in KS3 chemistry (particles, equations, the periodic table) or physics (energy, forces, electricity) carries them into GCSE, which is why the checklist runs through KS3 topic by topic.
Key Stage 4 (Year 10 and 11, ages 14 to 16): GCSE
Science stays compulsory. Every pupil takes one of two routes, both covering the KS4 programme of study:
- GCSE combined science (AQA Trilogy, Edexcel, OCR Gateway or 21st Century): one course, two GCSE grades (reported as a pair, 9-9 down to 1-1), six exam papers. The route most pupils take.
- Separate sciences (triple science): three GCSEs, biology, chemistry and physics, each with its own grade and two papers, and extra content in each. Chosen by pupils likely to take science A levels.
The statutory KS4 topics, which both routes cover:
| Discipline | Statutory topics |
|---|---|
| Biology | Cell biology; Transport systems; Health, disease and the development of medicines; Coordination and control; Photosynthesis; Ecosystems; Evolution, inheritance and variation |
| Chemistry | Atomic structure and the Periodic Table; Structure, bonding and the properties of matter; Chemical changes; Energy changes in chemistry; Rate and extent of chemical change; Chemical analysis; Chemical and allied industries; Earth and atmospheric science |
| Physics | Energy; Forces; Forces and motion; Wave motion; Electricity; Magnetism and electromagnetism; The structure of matter; Atomic structure; Space physics |
Each exam board turns these into its own specification (AQA's combined science, for example, has seven biology, ten chemistry and seven physics topics), and the required practicals (eight per science in combined, ten in separate) are examined in the written papers: at least 15 percent of marks test practical skills, and 10 percent test maths skills (20 percent in physics). The exams are in May and June of Year 11, graded 9 to 1; our grade boundaries page explains the scale.
How to tell whether a child is on track
- Primary. Ask for the school's science long-term plan (most publish it) and tick the statutory topics against it, then ask the child to explain one thing from each: what a plant needs to grow (Year 2), why a shadow forms (Year 3), what happens to a puddle on a hot day (Year 4), why we have day and night (Year 5), what adaptation means (Year 6). The explanations, not the vocabulary, show whether the topic landed.
- KS3. By the end of Year 9 a child should be able to balance a simple equation, read a periodic table, draw a series circuit and calculate with speed = distance ÷ time and energy = power × time. Those four are the hinges of GCSE.
- KS4. The specification is the checklist; each board publishes it with the required practicals. Past papers from Year 10 onward show which topics are missing marks.
Children arriving from abroad (CBSE, IB, American, Australian systems) usually find the content familiar but the layout different: KS3 chemistry comes earlier than in most systems, and the "working scientifically" skills (fair testing, variables, evaluating methods) are examined explicitly in a way other systems rarely do.
Where it sits beside other systems
| System | Equivalent | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| Scotland (Curriculum for Excellence) | Sciences experiences and outcomes, then National 4 and 5 | not the national curriculum; different levels and exams |
| Wales | Curriculum for Wales (from 2022) | its own framework, GCSEs from WJEC |
| Northern Ireland | Northern Ireland Curriculum, CCEA GCSEs | its own programme |
| International schools abroad | Cambridge Primary and Lower Secondary science, then IGCSE | follows the English structure closely; see IGCSE against GCSE |
| India (CBSE) | EVS to Class 5, Science Class 6 to 10 | a single science subject to Class 10, more content earlier in biology, less practical assessment |
The checklist
The PDF lists every statutory topic above with a tick box, year by year for primary and discipline by discipline for KS3 and KS4, plus the working-scientifically skills for each key stage, so a parent can go through a child's exercise books once a term and see what is still to come.
Where to get help
A 1-on-1 online science class in UK after-school hours with a tutor who holds a master's degree and teaches KS2, KS3 and GCSE science every week: the national curriculum topics taught in the school's own order, with the working-scientifically skills (variables, fair tests, graphs, evaluating) built into every lesson because that is where marks go missing. The KS2 and KS3 tutors page explains how the classes run, and the GCSE pages cover Year 10 and 11; the free 30-minute first class is a real lesson on this week's topic.
Questions parents ask
1What science is taught in each year of primary school?
2What is covered in KS3 science?
3Is science compulsory at GCSE?
4Is there a science SATs test in Year 6?
5What does working scientifically mean?
See how we teach this, 1-on-1 online →
Shobha
Founder and lead tutor, Science with Shobha
Teaching maths, science and English to children online since 2018. 500+ students, 20+ tutors, families in nine countries.