Science Space Systems & Earth's Historyusually ages 9–10

The solar system

Describe the sun, Earth, and moon as approximately spherical bodies, and describe the movement of the Earth and other planets orbiting the sun in the solar system

How to tell they’ve got it

Tick these off as you see them — no test required.

State that the sun, Earth, and moon are approximately spherical
Name the planets in order from the sun and explain they all orbit the sun
Describe the moon orbiting the Earth while both orbit the sun

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Try this together

Can your child describe the solar system — how Earth and the other planets orbit the sun, and how the moon orbits Earth, and that they're all roughly ball-shaped?

Where this sits on the map

Stuck here? Check the skills it builds on first. Confident? Here’s what it unlocks.

Builds on

Naming the Planetsages 5–8Describing sun, Earth, and moon as spherical bodies and planets orbiting the sun requires solar system vocabulary

Sun, Moon, and starsages 6–7Must observe sun/moon patterns before learning about the solar system model

The solar systemthis skill · ages 9–10

Unlocks

Earth's rotation and day/nightages 9–11Must understand Earth orbits the sun before explaining rotation causes day/night

Star Brightness & Distanceages 10–11Must know the sun is a star and planets orbit it before arguing about star brightness and distance

Phases of the Moonages 11–12Explaining Moon phases requires understanding the Sun–Earth–Moon geometry established in KS2

The solar system (age 11+)ages 11–12Detailed solar system structure (moons, asteroids, comets, orbital periods) extends KS2 overview of planets orbiting the Sun

Gravity Pulls Things Downages 9–11Curriculum spherical bodies/orbits topic underpins exploratory gravity understanding

solid = must come firstdashed = helps

Curriculum alignment

Candidate matches to official curriculum codes — machine-suggested, unreviewed (v0.1).

Show candidate curriculum codes · 1 ACARA · 1 NSW · 1 VIC

Australian Curriculum v9 candidate

AC9S6U02medium confidenceYear 6 · Science understanding

describe the movement of Earth and other planets relative to the sun and model how Earth’s tilt, rotation on its axis and revolution around the sun relate to cyclic observable phenomena, including variable day and night length

NSW syllabus codes & stages only

ST2-SCI-01medium confidenceScience and Technology K-6 · Stage 2

Victorian Curriculum 2.0 codes & levels only

VC2S6U07medium confidenceScience · Levels 5 and 6 · Science Understanding strand

These are candidate alignments generated by semantic matching — machine-suggested and unreviewed (v0.1), not official or verified mappings. For official curriculum content see australiancurriculum.edu.au, curriculum.nsw.edu.au and f10.vcaa.vic.edu.au. Don’t rely on them for registration or compliance purposes.

Nearby on the map

Earth's rotation and day/nightages 9–11 How fossils formages 9–10 Earth & Space Vocabularyages 8–11 Shadowsages 10–11

All Space Systems & Earth's History skills →