Humanities

History

The history curriculum at Starks Field allows children to learn about the past and how it relates to us today. Pupils are able to explore and develop an understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world.

Across the school children are taught a series of skills which they learn to apply to different contexts. These include areas such as asking perceptive questions, thinking critically, weighing evidence, sifting arguments and developing perspective and judgement. Teachers carefully plan lessons to enthuse children and give them opportunities to develop their understanding of our history.

In EYFS, the children are immersed in books (half termly), which lead to questions to help the children in building their understanding of the world. Books include ‘Naughty Bus’, which leads to questions about the history of travel. The children also focus on ‘All about me’, understanding more about themselves and their families.

In Years 1-6 the children learn history through the Opening Worlds curriculum. One of the main ideas underpinning this is the idea of building schemata, multiple networks of linked information, over the four years of the curriculum, creating readiness for new learning. With continuous links made to previous learning children can more rapidly understand new content and make historical comparisons to previous knowledge. This curriculum focuses on a rich and broad understanding of theme and vocabulary. This links well to our whole-school intentions around increasing children’s vocabulary.

This year the children's topics are:

• Year 1: Changes Over Time, November November!, Two Queens called Elizabeth, Neil & Mae – Space Explorers and The Great Exhibition of 1851;
• Year 2: Rosa and Emily, The Great Fire of London, The Stories of Florence and Mary and The Stone Age;
• Year 3: Ancient Egypt, Cradles of Civilization, The Indus Valley, Persia and Greece, Ancient Greece and Alexander the Great;
• Year 4: The Roman Republic, The Roman Empire, Roman Britain and Christianity in Three Empires, Islam in Arabia and Cordoba;
• Year 5: Baghdad, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings – the Lady of Mercia, Norse Culture, Vikings in Britain and Local History Study;
• Year 6: Norse Culture, Vikings in Britain, Local History Study, Maya, Life in Two Kingdoms in the African Continent and Cities in Time.

We also try to supplement our curriculum with educational visits and speakers. Some of our recent trips include the British Museum, the Imperial War Museum, the Golden Hinde and the Natural History Museum.

Geography

The geography curriculum at our school allows pupils to build on their curiosity and fascination about the world. Through teaching a progressive series of key geography skills pupils will learn about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments. As pupils progress their growing knowledge about the world this should help them to deepen their understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes.  In the units of study we focus on map work and first-hand observations to enhance their locational awareness.  

In EYFS, the children are immersed in books (half termly), which lead to questions to help the children in building their understanding of the world. Books include: ‘Naughty Bus’, which leads to questions about types of travel and ‘The Gingerbread Man’, which leads to questions about special awareness and early mapping. The children also focus on ‘All about me’, understanding more about themselves and their families.

In Years 1-6 the children learn geography through the Opening Worlds curriculum.

This year the children's topics are:

• Year 1: Geography Around Us and Weather and Climate;
• Year 2: Geography Around Us and Weather and Climate;
• Year 3: Rivers, Mountains, Settlements, Agriculture, Volcanoes and Climate and Biomes;
• Year 4: The Rhine and the Mediterranean, Population, Coastal Processes and Landforms, Tourism, and Earthquakes and Deserts;
• Year 5: Why is California so Thirsty, Oceans, Migration, North and South America, Amazon and Interconnected Amazon;
• Year 6: North and South America, The Amazon, Interconnected Amazon, Energy and Climate, Ethiopia and Changing Birmingham.