Humanities (Geography & History)

Intent: What do we hope to achieve?

In EYFS Understanding the World  involves guiding children to make sense of their physical world and their community. The frequency and range of children’s personal experiences increases their knowledge and sense of the world around them – from visiting parks, libraries and museums to meeting important members of
society such as police officers, nurses and firefighters. In addition, listening to a
broad selection of stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems will foster their
understanding of our culturally, socially, technologically and ecologically diverse
world. As well as building important knowledge, this extends their familiarity with
words that support understanding across domains. Enriching and widening
children’s vocabulary will support later reading comprehension.

In KS1 & KS2 national curriculum for Geography aims to ensure that all pupils:

• develop contextual knowledge of the location of globally significant places – both terrestrial and marine including their defining physical and human characteristics and how these provide a geographical context for understanding the actions of processes
• understand the processes that give rise to key physical and human geographical features of the world, how these are interdependent and how they bring about spatial variation and change over time
• are competent in the geographical skills needed to:
  • collect, analyse and communicate with a range of data gathered through experiences of fieldwork that deepen their understanding of geographical processes
    interpret a range of sources of geographical information, including maps, diagrams, globes, aerial photographs and Geographical Information Systems (GIS)
  • communicate geographical information in a variety of ways, including through maps, numerical and quantitative skills and writing at length.

In KS1 & KS2 national curriculum for History aims to ensure that all pupils:

• know and understand the history of these islands as a coherent, chronological
  narrative, from the earliest times to the present day: how people’s lives have shaped this nation and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world
• know and understand significant aspects of the history of the wider world: the nature of ancient civilisations; the expansion and dissolution of empires; characteristic features of past non-European societies; achievements and follies of mankind
• gain and deploy a historically grounded understanding of abstract terms such as ‘empire’, ‘civilisation’, ‘parliament’ and ‘peasantry’
• understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance, and use them to make connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends, frame historically-valid questions and create their own structured accounts, including written narratives and analyses
• understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims, and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed
• gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts, understanding the connections between local, regional, national and international history; between cultural, economic, military, political, religious and social history; and between short- and long-term timescales.

Implementation: How we will deliver humanities?

In EYFS, geography is introduced through activities that encourage children to gain a wider experience of the world around them through first-hand experiences. Children will explore, observe, problem solve, predict, think critically, make decisions and talk about the creatures, people, plants and objects in their natural environments.

In KS1 & 2 geography and history are the main drivers for topic based learning. Geography and history are taught as discrete subjects but they are very closely linked. Humanities will be taught every week. 

Curriculum Implementation Grid

Impact: How effective is our humanities curriculum? 

The impact of our humanities curriculum will be measured and monitored by senior leaders and subject coordinators who consider and evaluate:

• Pupil outcomes
• Pupil voice
• Internal monitoring
• External monitoring