Humanities

Geography and History

At Worple, both history and geography are taught from years 1 to 6. Our aim is to deliver a high-quality and creative humanities curriculum which encourages children’s curiosity and fascination about the world and its people. We focus on both the knowledge and the key skills needed for children to become problem solvers and critical thinkers. Our topics explore both the local area and the wider world providing them with a deep understanding of their topic. This is further enriched through themed topic days and trips where children become immersed in hands on experiences. We are lucky to live near to central London, where we have easy access to museums and historical sites. Our coherent curriculum allows children to make links between their current topics and previous learning. 

History

Intent

At Worple we understand that a high-quality history education will help pupils gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world.

At Worple our aims are:

• To inspire children to become independent, confident learners who are willing to take risks and challenge themselves.
• To encourage resilience and self-motivation in their approach to learning.
• To instil curiosity around significant people, places and chronological events and how they have shaped our world.
• To encourage children to be inquisitive and ask questions about how and why things have changed over time.

Implementation

At Worple, our humanities curriculum is delivered through subject-specific topics which alternate between history and geography. We have recently adopted the Cornerstone Maestro curriculum to ensure coverage and progression across the humanities curriculum. In order for children to thrive in humanities, as a school we understand the need to engage, challenge and motivate the children in their learning. Key aspects and concepts, such as chronology, hierarchy and cause and effect are revisited throughout each project so they are developed over time.

Each project enables children to develop key historical skills and historical enquiry. Many of the topics are cross-curricular, meaning children have a better all-around understanding of that project.

We begin with an engaging super start or memorable experience which inspires children’s’ curiosity about the subject and makes links between past learning.

We believe that themed topic days and historical trips are an important part of the curriculum because they allow the children to become completely immersed in the food, culture and everyday life of the historical time they are learning about. 

Impact

At Worple, we believe in challenge for all across the curriculum. All pupils should not only be able to access the curriculum but they should be able to apply their skills to infer the learning. Our engaging humanities curriculum, allows all types of learners to succeed and provides them with the skills and knowledge they need to move on to secondary school. All teaching is kept relevant and up-to-date to keep up with an ever-changing climate. 

The success of our humanities curriculum is evidenced through themed topic days, bookwork, class discussions and historical trips.

Geography

Intent

At Worple, we want geography to inspire a curiosity that will remain with our pupils for the rest of their lives. 

At Worple our aims are:

• To inspire children’s curiosity and fascination about the world around them locally and globally.
• To equip children with the knowledge to understand diverse places, people and resources.
• To help children in becoming confident in the key geographical skills such as analysing, interpreting and communicating.
• To support children in understanding the earth's physical and human processes which affect the world we live in today

Implementation  

At Worple, we follow the Cornerstones curriculum to ensure coverage across the geography curriculum. Like history, geography projects are well sequenced to provide a coherent subject scheme that develops children’s geographical knowledge, skills and subject disciplines.

Geography is taught in a range of ways throughout the key stages to enable progression and a greater acquisition of skills as they move on up the school. There is clear cohesion and structure to the topics learned from reception to year 6, allowing children to make links between each topic.

The use of outdoor learning and local trips enriches the children’s learning through hands-on experiences in a familiar setting where children are given opportunities to observe, ask questions, describe, record and learn map skills. Target questioning can address misconceptions and inform future planning so that children understand the objective before moving on.

Through a range of partnered and group work, children build up their confidence around their topic before expressing the skills independently and showing what they understand. This then allows for other skills to develop, such as their emotional and social skills. Cross-curricular learning is encouraged at Worple so that children can make links between their different subjects and understand the purpose of the learning.

Geographical locations are not specified in the national curriculum, but the projects chosen provide a broad and diverse understanding of the world. 

Impact

Through a strong and cohesive geography curriculum, children are taught the skills they need in order to succeed in the future. Because the curriculum is delivered in a variety of stimulating ways, children have the confidence to ask questions, explore and make mistakes. Evidence of this is not only seen in class discussions and their books, but also through their motivation, confidence and curiosity which shines through in each lesson. Children want to share what they already know from their previous years learning and build on it with new knowledge and ideas.

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