Key Stage 2 · Year 5 · ages 9 or 10
Year 5 science: what your child learns
Year 5 science covers life cycles, human development, materials, Earth and space, and forces. Children compare the life cycles of a mammal, an amphibian, an insect and a bird, and learn about puberty and old age. They separate mixtures by filtering and sieving, tell reversible changes from ones that make new materials, explain day and night and the Moon’s movement, and explore gravity, air resistance, friction and levers.
Guides for parents
Year 5 science
Human growth and puberty
What Year 5 children learn about how humans grow and change from birth to old age, including puberty, how schools approach it and how to talk about it at home.
Year 5 science
The solar system, the Moon and day and night
What Year 5 children learn about the Sun, Earth and Moon, how the planets move, and how the Earth’s rotation explains day, night and the Sun’s apparent movement.
Year 5 science
Gravity, resistance and simple machines
What Year 5 children learn about gravity, air resistance, water resistance, friction, levers, pulleys and gears, with a fair-test parachute example and ideas for home.
Year 5 science
Life cycles and reproduction
What Year 5 children learn about the life cycles of a mammal, an amphibian, an insect and a bird, and how plants and animals reproduce, with a worked comparison.
Year 5 science
Dissolving, separating and changing materials
What Year 5 children learn about material properties, dissolving, filtering, sieving, evaporating, and reversible and irreversible changes, with a worked example.
Everything in the Year 5 science curriculum
The National Curriculum topics for Year 5, in the order the National Curriculum lists them.
Working scientifically
- Working scientifically (years 5 and 6) (Years 5 and 6)