The aim of our creative curriculum is to enable children to become confident Historians and Geographers by gaining knowledge and understanding through the use of a wide range of skills. Alongside important knowledge of people, places and events, children are encouraged to develop transferable skills they can use across the curriculum and in later life, such as asking perceptive questions, thinking critically and weighing evidence through enquiry based activities.
Each year group’s themes cover a number of skills and objectives outlined in the National Curriculum. This provides an engaging and inspiring backdrop for the children in which history and geography can be fully integrated with their learning of reading, writing and mathematics. Also, by stimulating their interest of other times and places, children develop an awareness of themselves in relation to their community and the part they can play in it.
Here are some of our historical and geographical questions
Year 3 How have humans and animals adapted to mountain environments? Year 3 began with a trip to Avid climbing centre where the children tried their hand at bouldering. This is climbing without ropes and harnesses and helped to kick start the topic on Mountains. The topic continues and the children are familiar with features of a mountain and can name mountain ranges around the world.
Year 4 How did the Roman invasion impact on Britain? Year 4 started the topic with a Roman Day where they welcomed a Roman soldier to our school. During the topic, they visited Colchester Castle where they were particularly interested in learning about a local female Celtic queen, Boudicca, who successfully beat the Romans in several large battles.
Why is the Earth angry? Throughout this unit of work the pupils have been focusing on natural disasters, including earthquakes and flooding. Having watched a volcanic eruption in the playground, they began learning about volcanoes.
Year 5 Which era would you prefer to be a child in? To begin the topic they had a Victorian Day. Everyone (children and staff) came to school dressed in Victorian costumes and the children took part in a variety of activities. The strict Victorian rules were followed throughout the day.
Year 6 What was life like as an Aztec? To conclude the Aztec Topic, the children designed, wrote and performed a presentation of learning. Each group of children created a short drama piece based on an episode of Horrible Histories. The finished pieces were hilarious and informative, showing off their history and geography learning whilst showcasing their drama skills.
Year 4
Geography: To investigate places. I can ask and answer geographical questions about the physical and human characteristics of a location. I can explain my own views about a location. I can use maps, atlases, globes to locate countries. I can name and locate the countries of Europe. I can use a range of resources to identify the key physical and human features of a location. I can understand how to use a variety of sources to create a fact file for a country.
As a launch to our Ancient Greek topic, we used evidence in a clue box to predict what we were going to learn about next. Using our schema, we looked at photos, objects and coins which enabled us to predict that we were going to study Greece. We became Geographers, locating Greece in the world and Europe. We discovered the countries which border it as well as other geographical facts (climate, physical and human features) before presenting our learning in a fact file. Comparing Britain and Greece enabled us to see both similarities and differences between the two countries. Finally, at the end of the first week we adventured back in time to Ancient Greece and explored Ancient Greek pottery.