Planning

The Western Australian Science Curriculum is changing, but not in the way many teachers initially worry about. The core science concepts students learn remain familiar. What has changed is the clarity of the wording, the organisation of content, and the way inquiry and application are emphasised across year levels.

If you’re looking for a clear explanation of the WA Science Curriculum, how it aligns with Australian Curriculum v9, and what this means for planning and assessment over the next few years, this guide breaks it down without curriculum jargon or unnecessary complexity.

Why the WA Science Curriculum Was Updated

The WA Science Curriculum has been refined to improve clarity, consistency and progression from Pre-primary to Year 10. Rather than introducing new science content, the update focuses on making expectations clearer and supporting stronger alignment between knowledge, inquiry and application.

The revision aims to:

• clarify the intent of content descriptions
• refine progression across year levels
• strengthen foundations in scientific inquiry
• improve alignment with the structure of Australian Curriculum v9 while remaining WA-specific
• modernise language and examples

In short, the science students learn is largely the same — the way it is described and organised is clearer.

What’s New in the WA Science Curriculum?

The WA Science Curriculum refresh focuses on clarifying and strengthening the existing structure, rather than replacing content teachers already know. The updates refine how science learning is described, sequenced and applied across year levels.

The key improvements include:

• clearer wording of content descriptions to reduce ambiguity
• a more explicit progression of scientific concepts from Pre-primary to Year 10
• stronger integration of Science Understanding, Science Inquiry Skills and Science as a Human Endeavour
• increased emphasis on inquiry, investigation and application of knowledge
• clearer links between investigations, evidence and explanations
• improved alignment between content descriptions and achievement standards

The science students learn remains familiar. The changes are designed to make expectations clearer for planning, teaching and assessment.

For a full overview of system-wide updates before focusing on Science, visit our post:
WA Curriculum Changes : What Teachers Need to Know

WA Curriculum Science Overview (PP–Y6)

Across Pre-primary to Year 6, the WA Curriculum Science is built around a progressive, inquiry-based view of learning. In the early years, science learning aligns closely with the EYLF, drawing on children’s natural curiosity about the world, their observations of everyday phenomena, and their experiences with living things, materials and environments.

As students move through the primary years, they develop increasing independence in how they investigate questions, plan and conduct inquiries, and use evidence to explain scientific ideas. The curriculum emphasises that science learning is not just about acquiring facts, but about thinking, questioning and reasoning scientifically.

Scientific inquiry is embedded at every year level. Students are expected to ask questions, make predictions, collect and interpret data, and communicate explanations using appropriate scientific language. The relationship between Science Understanding, Science Inquiry Skills and Science as a Human Endeavour is made explicit, ensuring students see science as both a body of knowledge and a way of making sense of the world.

Across PP–Y6, students engage with a wide range of science experiences — from observing changes in their local environment and exploring the needs of living things, to investigating forces, materials, Earth systems and simple energy concepts. These experiences are increasingly connected to real-world contexts, helping students understand how science relates to everyday life, technology and society.

For teachers seeking support in translating these curriculum statements into clear, teachable learning sequences, your Curriculum Companion Teaching Guide provides a structured unpacking of each Science outcome, supporting planning, assessment and progression across the primary years.

Key Focus Areas in the WA Science Curriculum

While the strands remain familiar, the revised curriculum places clearer emphasis on how science learning should unfold in classrooms.

Across PP–10, teachers will notice stronger focus on:

• Inquiry as the driver of learning, not an add-on
• purposeful questioning and prediction
• planning and conducting investigations with increasing independence
• using evidence to explain and justify ideas
• connecting scientific knowledge to real-world contexts
• developing precise scientific language over time

These focus areas reinforce that science learning is active, evidence-based and connected to students’ lived experiences.

WA Science Curriculum Implementation Timeline

The Science curriculum forms part of the staged Western Australian Curriculum rollout.

Familiarisation in 2025

Science is currently in the familiarisation phase. During this time, teachers are encouraged to review the updated wording, compare existing units with the revised curriculum, and begin aligning planning documents.

Full implementation from 2026

From 2026, the WA Science Curriculum is fully implemented. Planning, assessment and reporting should align with the revised curriculum from this point onward.

This staged approach gives schools time to prepare without unnecessary pressure.

How the Science Curriculum Changes Affect Planning

For most teachers, the practical changes are manageable and incremental.

Planning adjustments typically involve:

• updating learning intentions to reflect revised wording
• refining success criteria
• adjusting inquiry sequences
• checking alignment with updated WA codes
• reviewing assessment rubrics against clarified achievement standards
• mapping existing resources to revised descriptors

Because the scientific content itself remains familiar, these changes support clarity rather than adding workload.

What’s Staying the Same in Science Teaching

It’s just as important to be clear about what does not need to change.

• Science remains hands-on and inquiry-driven
• investigations remain central to learning
• scientific knowledge is developed through questioning and evidence
• existing units are largely still relevant
• strong science teaching practice continues to align

The refresh supports good practice — it doesn’t replace it.

WA Science Curriculum vs Australian Curriculum v9

WA has not adopted Australian Curriculum v9 for Science. Instead, the WA curriculum has been refined using ACARA v9 as a structural reference while retaining WA-specific wording, codes and achievement standards.

What is similar:

• broad structure
• key scientific concepts
• progression of ideas

What is different:

• WA curriculum codes
• wording of content descriptions
• organisation of inquiry skills
• contextual examples
• achievement standards

Teachers should always plan, assess and report using WA Science Curriculum documents, while ACARA alignment can be useful when sourcing or adapting resources.

How A+ Teacher Club Supports WA Science Teachers

Clear curriculum documents are only useful if they translate into manageable planning and assessment in the classroom. That’s where our Teacher Planning Tools come in.

Our checklists are designed to help teachers work confidently with both the Content Descriptions and the Achievement Standards, without juggling multiple documents or spreadsheets. They support day-to-day teaching as well as longer-term planning, assessment and reporting.

Teachers use these tools to:

• track student achievement against Content Descriptions and Achievement Standards
• support Australian and WA Curriculum implementation
• inform planning and differentiation
• record anecdotal observations
• support IEP and GEP documentation
• make confident A–E reporting decisions
• track whole-class and individual student progress

In short, these planning tools are designed to reduce admin load, save time, and give teachers a clear picture of student progress without duplicating work.

Each Learning Area Kit is designed to support teachers in confidently applying the WA Science Curriculum (AC v9) in the classroom.

At the core of each guide is the “What This Looks Like in the Classroom” interpretation — a teacher-developed breakdown that translates curriculum language into clear, observable student behaviours.

This bridges the gap between curriculum documents and real classroom practice, helping teachers recognise what achievement actually looks like.

What’s Included

Each kit includes form-fillable PDF checklists for:

• Achievement Standards (whole class and individual students)
• Content Descriptions (including WA curriculum codes, whole class and individual students)

These tools support:

• tracking student progress over time
• collecting evidence across multiple learning experiences
• making confident A–E reporting decisions
• supporting moderation and planning

The Key Difference: “What This Looks Like in the Classroom”

This section is what sets the resource apart.

It provides:

• clear, observable examples of student understanding
• practical interpretation of Achievement Standards
• support for identifying evidence during everyday lessons

Instead of guessing what the curriculum means, teachers can see how learning appears in real classroom contexts.

These descriptions are not a checklist or teaching sequence. They are designed to support professional judgement and on-balance decisions over time.

Flexible and Easy to Use

The checklists can be used digitally or printed and are fully editable using Adobe Reader DC (free).

They are designed to streamline planning, assessment and reporting in one place — without adding extra workload.

Important Note

This resource is aligned to the Western Australian Curriculum (AC v9) and is a teacher-developed interpretation designed to support classroom practice and assessment. It is not endorsed by SCSA. The WA Curriculum remains the authoritative source.

The files are editable, savable and printable using Adobe Reader DC (free) and are designed to streamline assessment, planning and reporting in one place. Download our free instructions below to see exactly how to use the planning tools in your classroom.

Key Takeaways for WA Science Curriculum

The updated WA Science Curriculum brings clearer expectations around inquiry, evidence and explanation, without changing the science students learn. While the content remains familiar, the revised wording and structure mean teachers need to be confident about how investigations, knowledge and assessment connect across the year.

Our WA Science Curriculum Guides and Organisers are designed to support that clarity. They bring the curriculum together in one place, show how inquiry and content align, and help you map existing resources to the updated WA codes — without starting again.

If you want a practical way to navigate the WA Science Curriculum, reduce planning guesswork and work with tools that support confident, curriculum-aligned teaching, explore the guide for your year level and make Science planning clearer and more manageable.

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