This is the subject knowledge and explicit vocabulary used to learn about the content. Common misconceptions are explicitly revealed as non-examples and positioned against known and accurate content. In CUSP Science, an extensive and connected knowledge base is constructed so that pupils can use these foundations and integrate them with what they already know. Misconceptions are challenged carefully and in the context of substantive and disciplinary knowledge. In CUSP Science, it is recommended that misconceptions are not introduced too early, as pupils need to construct a mental model in which to position that new knowledge.

This is knowing how to collect, use, interpret, understand and evaluate the evidence from scientific processes. This is taught. It is not assumed that pupils will acquire these skills by luck or hope. Pupils construct understanding by applying substantive knowledge to questioning and planning, observing, performing a range of tests, accurately measuring, comparing through identifying and classifying, using observations and gathering data to help answer questions, explaining and reporting, predicting, concluding, improving, and seeking patterns. We call it ‘Working Scientifically.’ CUSP Science provides Working Scientifically coverage maps to check the balance of provision in KS1, Lower and Upper KS2. They are also present in the Whole Class Assessment toolkits.

Scientific analysis is developed through IPROF criteria. We call it ‘Thinking Scientifically.’

• identifying and classifying
• pattern seeking
• research
• observing over time
• fair and comparative testing

In EYFS, Science is developed through Understanding the World. Children explore objects, materials and living things using their senses, noticing similarities, differences, patterns and change. Our carefully planned environment and skilled practitioners nurture curiosity and encourage children to ask questions about how and why things happen. Learning extends beyond the classroom, with regular opportunities to explore the natural world — observing seasonal changes, investigating mini-beasts and learning about plants and animals. Children also take part in practical experiences such as hatching and caring for chicks in the spring term and engaging in cookery sessions, where they observe changes as ingredients are mixed, heated and cooled.

These rich, hands-on experiences lay strong foundations for future scientific learning.

Pupils study the Seasons and develop an early conceptual understanding of how day becomes night. An understanding of change over time connects to the study of Plants, including trees. This focus enables children to associate trees as belonging to the plant kingdom and notice the changes deciduous trees go through connected to the seasons.

Contrasting that study, pupils learn about Animals, including humans. Non-examples of plants are used to contrast the features of an animal.

Pupils are introduced to identifying and classifying materials. Scientific terms, such as transparent, translucent and opaque are taught explicitly through vocabulary instruction and pupils make further sense by applying it to what they know and then to working and thinking scientifically tasks. This substantive knowledge is enriched by pupils’ use of disciplinary knowledge through scientific enquiry.

To sophisticate their understanding, Year 1 pupils revisit the study Animals, including humans as a retrieval module and deepen their knowledge through revisiting and thinking hard through increasingly challenging tasks.

As pupils progress through KS1, new knowledge is integrated with pre-existing understanding. For example, in Year 2, the study of Living things and their habitats and Uses of everyday materials, engages pupils to integrate and draw upon their knowledge of Animals, including humans as well as Plants, and the study of Materials. New substantive knowledge is constructed and made sense of through Working and Thinking scientifically tasks.

In Lower KS2, pupils build on their KS1 knowledge to deepen and connect their scientific understanding.

Rocks links back to Everyday Materials and is later revisited to strengthen and extend knowledge. Animals, including humans develops prior learning by exploring the functions of skeletons, muscles and digestion.

Forces and magnets introduce contact and non-contact forces, while Light makes abstract concepts concrete through learning about light sources and shadows. Plants are studied in greater depth, including their functions and pollination.

In Living things and their habitats, pupils develop secure classification skills, connecting animals, plants and environments, and considering positive and negative change.

Electricity introduces simple circuits, components and safety, while States of matter and Sound are taught through the particle model, supported by practical enquiry to strengthen conceptual understanding.

Throughout Lower KS2, pupils apply their knowledge through structured scientific enquiry, building both substantive knowledge and disciplinary skills.

In Upper KS2, pupils deepen and connect their scientific understanding across increasingly complex concepts.

Properties and changes of materials builds on prior learning about states of matter, extending knowledge to include solutions, mixtures and reversible and irreversible changes. Retrieval is used to strengthen and sophisticate understanding over time.

Animals, including humans develops pupils’ knowledge of biological systems, including circulation, the components of blood and the function of the heart. This learning is linked to healthy living through diet and exercise and is enriched through cross-curricular connections, such as interpreting data in Maths and food technology in DT.

Earth and Space develops understanding of our place in the universe, addressing misconceptions about the Moon, the Sun and the seasons.

In Forces, pupils extend their knowledge to include air and water resistance, levers and pulleys as force multipliers, building on earlier learning. They also study the work of Galileo Galilei as a pioneer of modern science.

Electricity advances to more complex circuits, drawing on prior understanding of particle theory. Pupils use precise scientific language such as charge, potential difference and flow, applying this knowledge through structured enquiry.

Living things and their habitats explores life cycles, reproduction and classification in greater depth, including the taxonomy of Carl Linnaeus. Pupils study more complex organisms and learn about significant scientists such as Maria Merian, whose observations advanced understanding of metamorphosis.

In Evolution and inheritance, pupils learn about the pioneering work of Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace. Concepts such as adaptation and variation are taught explicitly, enabling pupils to understand how scientific theories explain change over time.

Light is revisited with a deeper focus on the properties of light in physics.

Throughout UKS2, pupils refine their scientific thinking, deliberately revisiting prior knowledge so that understanding becomes secure, connected and increasingly sophisticated.