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Draft curriculum content
This page is based on the draft Year 7 content for Science, which is currently open for feedback. Schools are not required to implement changes until the consultation process is confirmed.
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In Year 7, your child will work with more complex ideas and unfamiliar contexts. They ask thoughtful questions, describe things in detail, and begin to understand why fair testing matters. Students begin to apply scientific concepts to explain their observations, compare results, and utilise models (such as particle models or food webs) to understand more complex ideas in chemistry, biology, and physics. They also begin to recognise that science helps us understand and solve real-world problems.
Physical Science#
Materials#
With your child, you could:
- play with objects like rubber bands to see how they bend, stretch, or break, and ask:
- How far does it stretch?
- Does it return to its original shape?
- melt chocolate to show how heat changes the state of some materials
- explore conductivity (heat transfer) for example, by noticing that pots get hot while wooden spoons stay cooler
- notice condensation forming on windows on cold nights and discuss where it comes from.
What the teacher will focus on
The teacher will focus on how materials behave when bent, stretched or heated, how heat changes things, and the three states of matter through scientific observation. The teacher will also use the particle nature of matter to describe what is happening when matter changes from one physical state to another.
For example, by the end of the year, your child may be able to:
- identify materials that bend temporarily (elastic) and those that stay bent (plastic)
- explain which materials are better at conducting heat and which keep heat in
- explain the characteristics of solids, liquids, and gases
- know that all things are made up of smaller particles that behave in specific and predictable ways when heated or cooled
- observe and describe how materials change when cooled or heated
- sort and compare materials based on their properties and their best uses.
Matter interactions and energy#
With your child, you could:
- touch a metal spoon in a hot drink and notice how it warms up, then talk about how heat moves from one object to another (conduction)
- watch steam rising from boiling water and discuss how heat moves through liquids and gases (convection)
- feel the warmth from sunlight or a heater without touching it and talk about how heat can travel as radiation
- freeze water and notice how ice floats, then talk about how water is unusual because it expands when it freezes
- fill a container with water, mark the level, freeze it, and notice how the ice sits higher than the original line and then talk about how water expands when it freezes.
What the teacher will focus on
The teacher will focus on developing your child's understanding of how heat moves through and around materials, how materials change size when heated or cooled, and why water behaves differently from other materials when it freezes.
For example, by the end of the year, your child may be able to:
- explain 3 ways in which heat travels through materials (conduction), through liquids and air (convection), and through space (radiation)
- describe why most materials get bigger when heated and get smaller when cooled
- use the particle model to explain that heat makes tiny particles move faster, causing them to spread further apart from each other
- compare how dense or how many particles are in a solid, versus a liquid or gas
- measure and discuss how materials respond differently to heating and cooling
- explain states of matter, such as freezing and melting, using their understanding of how particles behave.
Motion and Forces#
With your child, you could:
- slide your hand across a smooth surface, then a rough surface, and talk about how rough surfaces slow things down
- rub your hands together slowly, then quickly, and talk about what you feel in each case
- compare how things like a feather or a ball fall to the ground at different speeds.
What the teacher will focus on
The teacher will focus on helping your child understand how forces can push and pull objects, how friction slows motion and produces heat, and why some materials change shape permanently while others spring back to their original form.
For example, by the end of the year, your child may be able to:
- state that forces are pushes and pulls that can change how objects move, their shape, and size
- describe friction as a force that works against the object being moved, and the contact between surfaces produces heat
- demonstrate that rough surfaces create more friction than smooth surfaces
- demonstrate how forces affect different objects and materials
- identify that internal forces act within an object or structure (like tension in a stretched rubber band), while external forces come from outside (like pushing a door), and explain how both can change an object’s shape or movement
- explain that scientific investigations need to be run fairly to get accurate results
- explain everyday situations using their understanding of forces and friction, for example, the brakes on a bike, sliding on ice and bending a paperclip.
Earth Systems#
With your child, you could:
- find rocks and stones and investigate their texture and make-up, and ask:
- Is it rough or smooth?
- Is it hard or soft?
- Does it crumble?
- Is it made up of smaller parts that can be seen?
- Is it heavy or does it seem to be light for its size?
- Are there patterns or crystals in the rocks?
- point to everyday items such as tools, cooking foil, salt or coal, and talk about how these materials come from the Earth
- visit local building sites, quarries, or stone and rock walls where people have dug the earth up and observe the make-up of the Earth.
What the teacher will focus on
The teacher will focus on developing your child's understanding of what minerals and rocks are, how they form with patterns and crystals, why they contain fossils, and how their properties make them useful for different purposes.
For example, by the end of the year, your child may be able to:
- explain that minerals are natural materials with repeating patterns that create unique shapes
- describe the properties of minerals based on their observable characteristics
- state that rocks are made of minerals and crystals that are mixed together
- understand that rocks and fossils tell stories about Earth’s history and organisms from long ago
- connect material properties to their uses, for example, metals like aluminium are used in aeroplane parts because they are lightweight and strong
- recognise that Earth’s materials are valuable resources that humans depend on for everyday life.
Biological Science#
Organism Diversity#
With your child, you could:
- look online for images of plant and animal cells and compare them
- choose 1 specialised cell (brain, blood, skin) and find out:
- What is its job?
- What makes its shape special?
- What would happen if we didn’t have this type of cell?
What the teacher will focus on
The teacher will focus on investigating the structure of cells and the function of their organelles (cell parts) and classifying them as plant or animal cells. They will explain how to draw and label cells and compare the scale of different plant and animal cells.
For example, by the end of the year, your child may be able to:
- draw and label plant and animal cells, noting their differences and similarities
- explain that cells can be specialised for different roles, like nerve cells that send signals to and from the brain in response to changes in the environment, and muscle cells that contract to pull on bones for movement
- describe organelles and explain their function, for example, mitochondria for respiration, where sugar is broken down to release energy, or chloroplasts in plant cells, where photosynthesis occurs
- describe how organisms can be unicellular (for example algae in pond water) or multicellular (like carrots and sheep)
- explain how some unicellular (single-celled) organisms have unique structures, like flagella to swim or eyespots to locate the direction of light.
Body Systems#
With your child, you could:
- experiment with diffusion by spraying perfume at one end of a room and having your child stand at different distances away from the spray site, timing how long it takes for the scent to reach them at each distance
- look at the underside of large leaves with a magnifying glass and spot the tiny holes (stomata) that allow gases into and out of leaves
- test for starch in potatoes or apples by placing iodine (like Betadine) on the cut surface and watching it turn black, wear gloves so your skin doesn’t stain
- make a biosphere bottle with plants and damp soil (this will contain microorganisms), put a lid on it, and observe how this balanced ecosystem survives through photosynthesis and respiration under the correct conditions to support life.
What the teacher will focus on
The teacher will focus on investigating how cells keep living things alive, including:
- respiration as the process where simple sugars are broken down using oxygen to release energy and produce carbon dioxide and water
- photosynthesis as the way plants, algae, and some bacteria make sugars to store energy.
Students will explore how photosynthesis changes the amounts of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the air and how leaves are designed for this process. They will also examine how plants reproduce by looking at key plant parts and explaining the roles of pollination and fertilisation.
For example, by the end of the year, your child may be able to:
- demonstrate how diffusion is the movement of particles from an area of high concentration to a low concentration, and this is how oxygen and carbon dioxide move
- explain that leaves are thin and have tiny holes in their underside called stomata, which allow gases to diffuse into and out of them
- describe photosynthesis as the process by which the green pigment in plants (chlorophyll) harnesses the energy of the Sun to make sugar using sunlight, water and carbon dioxide, and that oxygen is released as a result
- explain that chlorophyll is inside plant cells in structures called chloroplasts
- explain that the sugar produced from photosynthesis is then stored as starch or used to make structures like cellulose in cell walls
- describe respiration as a process that breaks down sugar to release energy, producing water and carbon dioxide as waste products
- explain that animals and plants use the energy produced by respiration for other life processes such as growth, reproduction and movement.
Ecosystems#
With your child, you could:
- prepare a meal and talk about all the different plants, animals, and fungi you are eating and how these organisms gained their nutrients
- make a list of all the different items in your home that are made from plants
- take a walk along a local stream or river, then use an online map to find where that waterway starts (source), where it flows, and where it reaches the ocean (it may join a larger river and that river will empty into the sea), thinking about the places it could get polluted on its journey
- see how much you can reduce your waste by recycling or composting
- volunteer in a restoration project.
What the teacher will focus on
The teacher will focus on explaining what ecosystems are, how energy is transferred through food chains, and how humans are part of ecosystems. They will help your child to understand how humans can benefit from ecosystems by managing other species to create food, harming them by exploitation, and supporting sustainability by planting trees and restoring habitats.
For example, by the end of the year, your child may be able to:
- describe biotic factors as living or recently living organisms and abiotic factors, or physical factors such as wind or air temperature, and explain how these are important to the survival of individual organisms
- explain that organisms need energy to survive and carry out life processes, for example, movement, respiration, sensing, growth, reproduction, excretion and nutrition
- draw diagrams showing how energy transfer is central to food chains, starting with the Sun as the source of energy, captured by producers (plants), passed on to animals as consumers, and finally to decomposers
- give examples of how humans benefit from managing other living organisms to produce food, clothing, building materials, medicines and dyes
- reflect on how humans can impact the environment by clearing forests, growing crops and changing waterways
- discuss how humans can support the health of the environment by producing less waste, recycling, composting, planting native plants, and restoring habitats.
