History, Geography and Science Rationale
We are extremely proud of our history, geography and science curriculum. We have put a huge amount of thought into the organisation of the units as explained below to ensure that the learning is progressive and enables children to make links across and between the 3 subjects.
Teachers have been provided with broad declarative knowledge to support their subject knowledge and ensure confident delivery and ownership over learning. Sticky knowledge for the pupils has been identified to ensure lessons and units build both within and across year groups. Every lesson begins with a review of learning from both current and historic units and is carefully planned to identify any potential gaps in prior knowledge which may impact learning in that lesson. Skills are assessed through ongoing assessment while knowledge of the unit is assessed at the end of each unit. We have created daily retrieval opportunities outside of these lessons to reinforce key learning based on AfL.
Key drivers
To support our curriculum design and help children make links, we have identified key drivers for history and geography.
Our history is designed around the themes, concepts and drivers of daily life, beliefs, social hierarchy, significant people and significant events. At least four of these if not all are present in every unit of work. As well as this, children learn the key historical skills of chronology, using sources, identifying similarities and differences, identifying causes and consequence, presenting learning and questioning. Historical concepts are taught through and alongside explicit teaching of historical skills.
Our geography is designed around the key drivers of locational knowledge, place knowledge, human and physical geography and geographical skills and field work. The national curriculum has been broken down and allocated to units of work in each year group. Declarative and procedural knowledge are taught alongside each other.
Year 1
Year 1 starts with a unit learning about UK countries to establish a sense of self and give the essential knowledge of London required to be able to access the Great Fire of London learning in Year 2. In Autumn 1, we establish the names of most materials which provides the foundations to be able to understand how toys have changed over time and specifically the materials of which they are made. Their sense of self is also built upon in the following unit on toys, where they can directly connect to the learning through their life experience. This unit covers 100 years worth of time before moving back to the Victorian period where we look at Mary Anning, Mary Seacole and Florence Nightingale to help build their understanding of chronology. These people have been chosen as examples of rich and poor, black and white to build the foundations of the social hierarchy learning that happens throughout the other units. The science unit they are learning at the same time looks at herbivores, omnivores and carnivores which supports their learning about fossils and is followed by a unit on body parts which links to nursing.
Throughout Year 1 we return to seasonal changes to enable children to learn experientially as the seasons change. The plants unit in Autumn 2 allows clear identification of the difference between coniferous and deciduous trees as the seasons changes from Autumn to winter.
The local school study in summer builds the foundations for the following unit on Coventry transport as they can apply their learning in a wider geographical area and they finish the year by revisiting materials to allow for more complex properties to be introduced that link with transport and car design.
Year 2
In Year 2, we start with Great Fire of London to build on geographical and scientific knowledge from Y1 on materials, UK geography and knowledge of cities. Alongside this, they look at the appropriate use of materials in objects for example considering if wood is an appropriate material for housing.
We then introduce world continents to introduce a sense of world scale that can be applied through the subsequent unit on Christopher Columbus and his exploration of the Americas. We have deliberately chosen Christopher Columbus as a historical figure to study as he is someone who the children can recognise his achievements and legacy at the same time as challenge his treatment of people. Through learning about him, we can first introduce the concept of slavery and the impact of this on him and the people he met and this theme is returned to in units throughout KS2. This unit is complemented which the contrasting study of another explorer: Neil Armstrong. Children learn how their lives and achievements were similar and different.
Plants is split over 2 units: in Autumn 2 they plant bulbs and learn about the effect of temperature on growth. These plants are then revisited in Summer 1 so children can learn about changes over time. Whilst learning about Christopher Columbus, the pupils learn about food and exercise where they will make links between food eaten today and the food that was brought back from the Americas.
In Summer 1, the pupils are exposed to a small area of the UK, Monks Kirby which contrasts with Stoke Heath to widen their vocabulary and experiences of life outside Stoke Heath. This is then built upon further by studying and comparing this to the human and physical features of a small area in Pakistan which many of our families have direct links with. Alongside this they look at habitats in living things to give opportunities to explore local habitats and those in other countries.
Year 3
Year 3 starts with an in-depth study of the UK. Pupils will learn about the human and physical geography of key counties and regions. Pupils will locate core topography, identifying where mountainous areas and major cities are in the UK allowing further comparison between Stoke Heath and the area studied in Year 2. The unit finishes with an awareness of the natural resources found in the UK which they can then apply when learning about the Stone to the Iron age. For example, where people settled or the technological advances.
The science unit on plants is at the start of Autumn 1 to allow children to see real examples of seed dispersal in nature due to the time of year before they move onto learning about rocks which complements their history unit on Stone Age to Iron Age.
In Spring, children apply the same geographical skills learnt in the Autumn term to a European study where they will be comparing features of North Europe with Southern Europe. Here they will learn about climate, topography and natural resources of Europe which they can apply when they study Romans in the next unit and Anglo Saxons and Vikings in Year 4.
Year 3 finish the year learning about volcanoes and earthquakes as they can apply and link their learning about Romans when they complete an in-depth study on Vesuvius and consider the positive and negative affects of natural events on humans. At the same time, the science unit introduces forces for the first time and allows links to be made with tectonic plate movement.
Year 4
Year 4 start with an introduction to Ancient Civilisations before an in-depth study on Ancient Egypt. This is complimented by the science unit which introduces them to the internal organs and digestive system so they can apply this to the mummification process. This is further supported by the accompanying science unit of state of matter which supports understanding of the water cycle. In the rivers unit, pupils will look at major rivers of Europe and the world noticing the link with where major settlements occur. This then links with the subsequent unit on London where they will learn about the human and physical features of London and the importance of the Thames on the geography of the city and how it has changed from Roman to present times.
Children finish the year with the final statutory element of British history by learning about the Anglo Saxons before moving onto and linking with learning about the Scots and Vikings.
Year 5
Children start Year 5 by studying the Ancient Greeks. This allows them to build on their understanding of judgement and democracy which has been introduced during the Egyptian unit and means they can consider Ancient Greek democracy under the lens of beliefs and social hierarchy, especially in comparison to Modern Britain and British Values. They will be introduced to the scientific advances of the Ancient Greeks which can then be linked with their science unit on Earth and Space and will allow them to consider how beliefs and knowledge have changed over time. This unit allows some key recall of learning from Year 3 units around Europe and natural disasters as they can consider the Ancient Greek beliefs surrounding why these happened and how these same disasters would be interpreted today. Learning about the Gods and Mount Olympus creates a good link with the following unit on mountains where they will understand a volcano is a type of mountain as well as well learning about other types of mountains and links with their knowledge of topography in European and the UK before applying this to the world. Their science learning during this unit supports knowledge and understanding of mountain formation through developing their understanding of forces.
Children go on to study Geneva which allows them to apply their prior geographical knowledge of mountains, rivers and their knowledge of European geography. Additionally, they will be able to make comparisons between the location and development of London and Geneva in order to understand why Geneva hasn’t expanded in the same way despite both being on a major river trading system. This also allows bordering countries to be introduced which supports the following unit on Coventry Blitz. This unit focuses on the impact of the bombing on Coventry city rather than being a generic WWII study. This requires recall of learning from Year 1 around transport and understanding the pivotal role of Coventry’s industry in its history and WWII specifically. This unit also encourages students to reflect on the importance of Coventry’s role in encouraging peace and reconciliation around the world both immediately after the war and in the years since and allows them to feel pride in the city they now call home.
Year 6
Year 6 starts with a unit on crime and punishment where they study the crimes and punishments in England from 1066 to the present day. They will identify trends linked with our driver of social hierarchy when they consider the treatment of different groups such as women and poor people throughout time and the shift from justice being dispensed by God, then the monarchy before the introduction of an increasingly diverse legal system based on the rule of law. This also allows children to make links with the justice systems of the ancient civilisations previously studied and encourages them to question the follies of mankind.
Year 6 geography units allow them to apply all their prior knowledge from previous units when learning about North and South America before focusing the Amazon basin as a region within these. This is complimented by their living things science unit as it supports their geography learning about biomes and climate and the classification of all living things. The evolution unit allows links between South America and Darwin through the Galapogas Islands as well as ensuring recall of prior learning about Mary Anning and the formation of fossils and rocks.
The final history unit looks at the Mayan civilisation. This learning links with the previous units on North and South America as well as enabling meaningful links to be made across the learning they have experienced in history, geography and science from Y1 to Y6. For example, this unit links with Y6 crime and punishment and how the Mayans used sacrifice and it links with the ancient civilisations studied in Years 4 and 5 and recognising the similarities and differences. It also links with rivers and the water cycle as the children identify the importance of the cenotes in the development of the settlements and how these were formed by the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs whose bones Mary Anning discovered which the children learnt about in Year 1.