Science National Curriculum

Progression in Physics

Subject Key Objective Progression & Development by Year Group

The following is a guide to help you understand your child's progression through school.

All lessons are effectively differentiated to ensure that all children can achieve the objective set.

Physics Knowledge - EYFS

In Nursery, children will:

• I can explore how things work;
• I can explore and talk about different forces I can feel.
   

In Reception, children will: 

• I understand the effect of changing seasons on the natural world around them.

Physics Knowledge - Year 1

In Year 1, children will:

• name the seasons;
• know about the type of weather in each season;
• describe how day length varies.

Physics Knowledge - Year 3

In Year 3, children will:

• know about and can describe how objects move on different surfaces;
• know how some forces require contact and others work at a distance (such as magnets);
• observe how magnets attract and repel (and other materials);
• predict whether magnets will attract or repel based on direction of poles;
• compare & group together everyday materials based on whether they are attracted to magnet & identify some magnetic materials;
• describe magnets as having two different poles;
• recognise that we need light in order to see things and that dark is the absence of light;
• notice that light is reflected from surfaces;
• recognise that light from the sun can be dangerous and that there are ways to protect my eyes;
• recognise that shadows are formed when the light from a light source is blocked by an opaque object;
• find patterns in the way that the size of shadows change.
   

Physics Knowledge - Year 4

In Year 4, children will:

• identify and name appliances that require electricity to function;
• construct a simple series circuit;
• identify and name the components in a series circuit (including cells, wires, bulbs, switches and buzzers);
• predict and test whether a lamp will light within a circuit (is it complete?);
• know the function of a switch and therefore whether a lamp lights in a simple circuit;
• know the difference between a conductor and an insulator; recognise metals as good conductors;
• know how sound is made, associating some of them with vibrating;
• know how sound travels from a source to our ears;
• find the patterns between pitch and the feature of the object producing a sound;
• find the patterns between the volume of a sound and the strength of the vibrations that produced it;
• know the link between how loud a sound is and the distance from the object making that sound.

Physics Knowledge - Year 5

In Year 5, children will:

• know what gravity is and the fact that it acts between things on Earth and the falling object; 
• identify the effect of air and water resistance between moving surfaces;
• identify the effect of friction between moving surfaces;
• recognise that some mechanisms, including levers, pulleys and gears allow a smaller force to have a greater effect;
• know about and can explain the movement of the Earth and other planets relative to the Sun;
• know about and can explain the movement of the Moon relative to the Earth;
• know and can demonstrate how night and day are created using terms such as rotation;
• explain why the sun looks like it moves across the sky;
• describe the Sun, Earth and Moon (using the term spherical).

Physics Knowledge - Year 6

In Year 6, children will:

• compare and give reasons for variations in how components function, including the brightness of bulbs, the loudness of buzzers and on/off position of switches;
• draw circuit diagrams using correct symbols;
• know how the number and voltage of cells in a circuit links to the brightness of a lamp or the volume of a buzzer;
• recognise that light appears to travel in straight lines;
• explain that we see things because light travels from light sources to our eyes or from light sources to objects and then to our eyes;
• use the idea of light travelling in straight lines to explain why shadows have the same shape as the objects that cast them;
• use the idea that light travels in straight lines to explain that objects are seen because they give out or reflect light into the eye.