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Protecting Endangered Animals
Animals of the World
Know how people work to protect endangered animals — through national parks and marine reserves, captive breeding programmes (like those that saved the California condor and Arabian oryx), anti-poaching patrols, wildlife corridors connecting habitats, and laws banning trade in endangered species — and understand that children can contribute through habitat-friendly choices
Protecting the Ocean
Ocean Life
Understand how people protect the ocean: marine protected areas limit fishing and pollution, sustainable fishing prevents overharvesting, beach clean-ups reduce plastic, and international agreements aim to reduce carbon emissions that cause ocean acidification
Rainforest Biodiversity
Rainforests
Understand that rainforests are biodiversity hotspots — covering just 6% of Earth's land surface but containing over 50% of all known plant and animal species — and that this extraordinary richness makes them irreplaceable for global biodiversity and a priority for conservation
Rainforest Conservation
Rainforests
Know the main approaches to rainforest conservation — protected areas and national parks, reforestation and rewilding programmes, sustainable certification schemes (Rainforest Alliance, FSC), recognition of indigenous land rights as the most effective form of forest protection, and international agreements like REDD+ that pay countries to keep forests standing
Rainforest Futures & Trade-Offs
Rainforests
Understand that the future of rainforests depends on balancing competing needs — economic development for local communities, indigenous peoples' rights to their ancestral lands, global biodiversity conservation, and climate stability — and that there are no simple answers, requiring cooperation between governments, businesses, scientists, indigenous leaders, and consumers worldwide
Rainforest Products in Daily Life
Rainforests
Understand how rainforest products connect to everyday life through global supply chains — palm oil is in snacks, soap, and cosmetics; soy feeds livestock worldwide; cocoa becomes chocolate; rubber is in tyres and gloves; timber becomes furniture; and many medicines originate from rainforest plants — and that consumer choices can drive either destruction or sustainable practices
Rainforests & Global Climate
Rainforests
Understand the connection between rainforests and global climate — rainforests absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen through photosynthesis, store enormous amounts of carbon in their biomass, and generate rainfall through transpiration; when forests are burned or cleared, stored carbon is released as CO₂, accelerating climate change and disrupting regional rainfall patterns
Reading and drawing circuit diagrams
Energy
Draw and read simple circuit diagrams using standard symbols for cells, bulbs, switches, buzzers, and wires; identify whether a circuit is complete or broken from a diagram; match circuit diagrams to physical circuits
Reading Cladograms
Dinosaurs & Paleontology
Read and create simple cladograms (branching diagrams) that show how groups of dinosaurs are related based on shared features, understanding that species sharing more features are more closely related
Reading Weather Maps
Weather & Climate
Read and interpret weather maps, data tables, and graphs — identifying symbols for sun, rain, wind, and temperature; spotting trends and patterns in weather data over weeks, months, or seasons; and using data to make simple predictions
Reversible Changes
Matter & Materials
Demonstrate that dissolving, mixing, and changes of state are reversible changes where no new materials are formed
Rock Layers & Relative Dating
Dinosaurs & Paleontology
Understand that rock layers (strata) form in sequence with the oldest at the bottom and the youngest at the top, and that fossils found in deeper layers are older — this is the principle of relative dating
Scale of the Solar System
Space Exploration
Use scale models, diagrams, or calculations to represent the relative sizes and distances of objects in the solar system, understanding that the distances between planets are enormously larger than the planets themselves
Science Can Be Revised
Scientific Inquiry
Scientific knowledge is provisional — it is the best current explanation based on available evidence, and it can and should be revised when better evidence arrives
Seasonal Constellations
Space Exploration
Recognise named constellations visible in different seasons and understand why we see different constellations at different times of year — because Earth’s orbit around the Sun changes which part of the sky we face at night
Senses, Brain & Responses
Organisms & Life Processes
Use a model to describe that animals receive information through their senses, process it in their brain, and respond in different ways
Separating Mixtures
Matter & Materials
Use knowledge of solids, liquids, and gases to decide how mixtures might be separated through filtering, sieving, and evaporating
Space Exploration Milestones
Space Exploration
Describe key milestones in human space exploration: the Space Race (Sputnik, Yuri Gagarin, Apollo 11 Moon landing), the Space Shuttle era, the International Space Station, and current missions (Artemis programme, Mars exploration plans, commercial spaceflight)
Speed and energy
Energy
Use evidence to construct an explanation relating the speed of an object to the energy of that object
Structural Adaptations
Animals of the World
Understand that animals have structural adaptations (body features like the giraffe's long neck, eagle's talons, dolphin's streamlined shape), behavioural adaptations (migration, hibernation, tool use), and physiological adaptations (antifreeze in Arctic fish blood, echolocation in bats) — and that these developed over many generations through natural selection
Structures for Survival
Organisms & Life Processes
Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behaviour, and reproduction
Sun-Driven Weather Systems
Weather & Climate
Understand how the Sun drives weather: the Sun heats Earth's surface unevenly (land heats faster than water, equator gets more heat than poles), creating differences in air pressure that cause wind patterns, ocean currents, and large-scale weather systems
Symbiosis
Animals of the World
Understand symbiosis — close relationships between different species — including mutualism (both benefit, like clownfish and anemones), commensalism (one benefits without harming the other, like remora fish riding sharks), and parasitism (one benefits at the other's expense, like ticks on deer) — and recognise these relationships in nature
Tectonic Plates
Volcanoes & Earthquakes
Understand that Earth's crust is broken into large pieces called tectonic plates that float on hotter, softer rock beneath and move very slowly — a few centimetres per year