KS3 Science · Year 8 · ages 12–13
Six half-term units, two each for biology, chemistry and physics, in the order we teach them: nutrition, digestion and respiration, chemical reactions, electricity and magnetism, photosynthesis and ecosystems, acids, alkalis and the reactivity series, and light and sound. Below is the question each unit asks, what pupils produce, the representation it carries forward and the scientific skill it builds, taken from our Year 8 Science scheme of work.
Six half-termly units, two per discipline. Photosynthesis sits in Unit 2b rather than beside respiration in Unit 1a, deliberately: the two are taught as complements, and respiration has to be secure first or photosynthesis becomes a second equation to memorise backwards.
Year 8 means ages 12–13, or S1–S2 in Scotland.
Unit 1a · Biology · Autumn 1 · approx. 7 weeks · September – October
You eat a sandwich. How does any of it end up powering your legs?
Unit 1b · Chemistry · Autumn 2 · approx. 7 weeks · November – December
Wood burns away to almost nothing. Where did the rest of it go?
Unit 2a · Physics · Spring 1 · approx. 7 weeks · January – February
If current is not used up in a bulb, why does the battery go flat?
Unit 2b · Biology · Spring 2 · approx. 7 weeks · March – April
A tree weighs several tonnes. Where did all that mass come from?
Unit 3a · Chemistry · Summer 1 · approx. 7 weeks · April – May
Why can you put copper in water but not sodium?
Unit 3b · Physics · Summer 2 · approx. 7 weeks · June – July
Why can you hear round a corner but not see round one?
The scheme maps each requirement of the statutory programme of study for key stage 3 (Department for Education, 2013) to the unit that teaches it. Pupils should be taught to…
Space physics, atomic structure and the periodic table as a pattern are not covered this year, and all three are in Year 9. Each needs something Year 8 is building: space needs waves and energy resources, and the periodic table only explains anything once reactivity has been observed in Unit 3a. Earth and atmosphere remains the genuine gap across Years 7 and 8; it is covered in Year 9 Unit 2b, and if your department wants it earlier, move it rather than adding it. National curriculum coverage Page 4 of 43
Two PDFs sit behind this page, and they are meant to be used together: the scheme of work to plan the year, the knowledge organisers to put in front of pupils.
Science · Key Stage 3£4.99
Full description on the Year 8 Science scheme of work page.
The statutory programme of study for key stage 3 science (DfE, 2013)·43 pages, 13 sections·For heads of science, subject leaders, technicians and every teacher who has to deliver it
KS3 Science · Year 8 · six A4 sheets£3.99
Full description on the Year 8 Science knowledge organisers page.
Written to Empower Educators Year 8 Science scheme of work·6 pages, 6 sections·For science teachers, technicians and heads of department. Printed one per pupil
Six half-term units, in the order they are taught: Nutrition, Digestion and Respiration, Chemical Reactions, Electricity and Magnetism, Photosynthesis and Ecosystems, Acids, Alkalis and the Reactivity Series and Waves: Light and Sound.
A traced account of one meal from mouth to muscle, naming the organ, the change and the reason at every step; A set of word equations for reactions the class has carried out, each with a measurement or observation showing that mass was conserved; A set of circuits built, measured and explained, with a written account of why current is the same all the way round a series circuit and energy is not; An account of where the mass of a tree comes from, supported by the class's own evidence that a plant makes starch only in light; A reactivity series built from the class's own observations, used to predict the outcome of a displacement reaction the class has not carried out; Ray diagrams for reflection and refraction drawn to scale from the class's own measurements, with the difference between light and sound explained.
Yes, across the three years of key stage 3. It maps each requirement of the statutory programme of study for key stage 3 (Department for Education, 2013) to the unit that teaches it, and on this year the scheme is plain: “Space physics, atomic structure and the periodic table as a pattern are not covered this year, and all three are in Year 9.”
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