The Learning Journey

Every stage builds on the last, and every topic is anchored to real animals — including our own Gary, Rosie, Mimi and Elvis — so the science, the ethics and the law always have a face attached. Where a topic is ready, you can open it right now. Where it says Coming soon, it is planned and being written — nothing here is a placeholder for content that will never arrive.

Ready now Started — more coming Coming soon

One idea, revisited every year. This is a spiral curriculum. The same big ideas — an animal's needs, welfare, classification and life cycles — come back at every stage, each time a little deeper. A three-year-old learns "Gary needs fresh water or he gets thirsty"; by KS2 that same child is sorting vertebrates and meeting the Five Freedoms; by KS4 they're reading the law behind them. A returning family can watch their learner grow through the same threads, year on year.

🐣 Early Years · ages 3–5

Understanding the World — sensory, spoken and gentle. Everything is audio-narrated, because a three-year-old can't read a workbook.

Senses

Sounds, textures & movement

Animal sounds, textures (fur, feathers, scales) and movement (hop, slither, waddle) — met through Gary, Rosie, Mimi and Elvis as recurring friends, not generic stock animals.

▶ Early Years planner

STARTED

Caring

Basic needs & gentle hands

Food, water, shelter and care through simple cause-and-effect — "Gary needs fresh water every day, or he gets thirsty." Quiet-voice, gentle-hands handling doubles as early safety and empathy.

SOON

Life cycles

Egg to chick, caterpillar to butterfly

Visual transformations that hold attention at this age. Understanding shown by observation — "can they point to the animal that needs water" — tied to the Early Learning Goals, not a right/wrong test.

SOON

🐥 Key Stage 1 · ages 5–7

Mapped onto the National Curriculum, taught through the animals rather than only through the child.

Autumn

Animals, including humans

Senses, growing and changing, and the basics of exercise, hygiene and healthy eating — taught through the animals as well as the child.

▶ Healthy me

STARTED

Spring

Living things & their habitats

Naming common animals, matching them to their habitats and understanding what each one needs.

▶ Animal habitats ▶ Which Habitat?▶ Habitat sort

READY

Summer

Seasonal changes

Hibernation and migration — genuinely fascinating at this age and a direct tie to the science topic teachers are already covering that term.

▶ Seasonal wildlife ▶ Winter safari

STARTED

🦔 Key Stage 2 · ages 7–11

Deepening into real science — the genuine curriculum-alignment years.

Lower
Y3–4

Nutrition, skeletons & classification

Animal nutrition, skeletons and muscles, and sorting animals into vertebrate groups — fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals — plus food chains.

▶ Sorting the Animal Kingdom ▶ Classify animals ▶ Food chains

READY

Upper
Y5–6

Life cycles, evolution & inheritance

Life cycles and reproduction (handled sensitively), then a first pass at evolution and inheritance — adaptation, and why species end up looking the way they do. Y6 National Curriculum content.

▶ Life Cycle Sequencing ▶ Adaptation Matching

STARTED

Welfare

Five Freedoms & licences (a first look)

A simplified version of the Five Freedoms and a gentle first mention of why some animals need special licences — just enough to plant the idea that not every animal is a pet, well before the full detail at KS4.

▶ The Five Freedoms

STARTED

🦎 Key Stage 3 · ages 11–14

Foundations and wonder — the big ideas, gently introduced.

Autumn

Classification & adaptation

Vertebrates and invertebrates, habitats, food chains and basic ecology — all tied to the animals children already know by name.

▶ Sorting the Animal Kingdom ▶ Adaptation Matching ▶ Food chains & habitats ▶ Habitat safari

STARTED

Spring

Animal welfare & ethics

The Animal Welfare Act 2006 five freedoms, why zoos are licensed and what "responsible ownership" really means — alongside our neurodiversity-awareness content.

▶ The Five Freedoms ▶ Neurodiversity awareness

READY

Summer

British wildlife & conservation

Native species, rewilding and the practical, go-and-see-it side of conservation for a Surrey audience.

▶ British Wildlife & Conservation ▶ British garden wildlife

READY

🐾 Key Stage 4 · ages 14–16

Mechanism and pathway awareness — how bodies, careers and the law work.

Autumn

Animal physiology & health

Anatomy systems, recognising common diseases and basic animal first aid — with our SEND and workplace-accommodation content running alongside.

▶ SEND & workplace

STARTED

Spring

Careers & pathways

What a vet nurse, zookeeper, animal behaviourist or RSPCA inspector actually does, the qualifications each needs, and realistic routes in — apprenticeship, college or university.

▶ Animal careers

READY

Summer

Animal law & welfare enforcement

The Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976, licensing regimes, the Ivory Act and why certain trades are banned — building straight on the pet-ownership legal content.

▶ UK pet law & costs

STARTED

🎓 Key Stage 5 · ages 16–18

Vocational depth — genuinely practical, work-ready knowledge.

Autumn

Animal behaviour & psychology

Learning theory, enrichment design and why animal-assisted intervention works the way it does — building on the KS5 SEND workbook.

▶ Advanced behaviour

STARTED

Spring

Husbandry planning & welfare assessment

Designing a care plan, spotting the early signs of ill health, and nutrition science group by group.

SOON

Summer

Workplace law & professional practice

The Equality Act 2010, safeguarding basics for anyone working near placements or vulnerable young people, and an introduction to running a small animal enterprise.

▶ Rights & the Equality Act ▶ Animal enterprise

STARTED

🧑‍🎓 Adult · 18+

Two paths, depending on who you are.

Vocational

For trainees & support staff

EHCP mechanics, multi-agency working and Tribunal basics, plus advanced animal-assisted intervention practice, professional-standard safeguarding, and self-employment basics for going freelance in animal care.

▶ EHCP & Tribunal ▶ Adult care course

STARTED

General

For adult subscribers

Deeper species-by-species ownership guidance, the neurodiversity plain-English guide, and the practical side of actually caring for an animal — first aid, emergency vet-cost planning and insurance literacy.

▶ Which pet is right?▶ Owning a pet in the UK

STARTED

A note for parents & teachers. This is a living plan — the age a child works at is only a starting point, and everything is designed to be revisited as often as it helps. If a topic here would suit your learner before it's finished, tell us and we'll prioritise it.

What we're still building for our youngest learners. Three things matter most and are on the way: accessibility for pre-readers — picture and visual-symbol support alongside audio, for children who communicate through symbols rather than text; observation-based assessment for Early Years, tied to the Early Learning Goals rather than a right/wrong quiz; and parent & carer talk-sheets for EYFS and KS1, since learning at this age happens through a grown-up.