Geography

Curriculum Intent

At Nicholas Hawksmoor Primary School, we aim to inspire in our pupils a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people. Our geography curriculum is designed to provide a powerful, alternative lens through which to view the world, built upon three core concepts:

• Natural Features: Understanding the Earth's physical processes and landscapes.
• People and Places: Exploring human geography and the interconnections between people and environments.
• Fieldwork and Skills: Developing geographical skills through practical experiences and investigations.

Through these core concepts, we strive to:

• Foster Pupil Understanding: Our knowledge-rich curriculum allows pupils to understand and explore the relationship between physical and human phenomena of our diverse world. We provide opportunities to analyse, think critically, and understand how and why events occur and their impact on natural and human environments. This approach ensures a deep, quality engagement with geographical concepts.
• Inspire Enthusiasm: We aim to increase pupils' care and compassion for the planet and its inhabitants by providing them with opportunities to explore places and landscapes they might not otherwise encounter. This enthusiasm for discovery is at the heart of our geographical studies, encouraging pupils to engage actively with the world around them.
• Develop Partnerships: We aim to create meaningful connections between classroom learning and the local environment. This partnership between school and community enriches our pupils' geographical understanding and makes learning relevant and engaging.

Our intent is to equip pupils with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources, and natural and human environments. We aim to develop a deep understanding of the Earth's key physical and human processes, preparing our pupils to be informed, compassionate global citizens with a stronger voice to discuss issues that matter.

Implementation

We focus on delivering a comprehensive, engaging geography education that builds knowledge and skills progressively:

• Curriculum Structure: We begin in Year 1 with studies of the familiar local area, expanding outwards to the United Kingdom, and then to the world. This structure reflects our commitment to quality education, ensuring that knowledge is built upon solid foundations. As pupils progress through Key Stage 2, they develop a deeper understanding of locations, places, processes, and people, exploring continents, significant human and physical environments, and global challenges.
• Natural Features Focus: Throughout the curriculum, pupils study various physical geography aspects. Throughout Key Stage 2, they learn about mountains, climate zones, biomes, and rivers, even natural disasters such as volcanoes and earthquakes. This focus on our 'Natural Features' core concept helps pupils understand the physical processes shaping our world.
• People and Places Emphasis: Human geography is explored through studies of settlements, land use, and comparisons between different localities. Pupils investigate the impact of human activity on environments and explore global challenges such as population growth, resource distribution, and climate change. This aligns with our 'People and Places' core concept, fostering an understanding of human-environment interactions.
• Fieldwork and Skills Development: We emphasize practical geographical skills throughout our curriculum. All classes have access to maps and atlases, and we display UK and world maps in our playgrounds to familiarize pupils with global locations. This hands-on approach, part of our 'Fieldwork and Skills' core concept, enthuses pupils about geography and develops essential practical skills.
• Cross-Curricular Connections: Units are carefully scheduled to build on knowledge across history and geography, creating meaningful connections between subjects. This integrated approach reflects our commitment to quality education and helps pupils see the interconnectedness of different areas of learning.
• Assessment and Retention: We use knowledge organizers to support retention and help pupils make connections. We use careful questioning to encourage critical thinking and personal engagement with geographical issues. This approach fosters enthusiasm for the subject and ensures quality learning outcomes.

Key Resources

National Curriculum Geography

NHPS Geography Skills & Knowledge Progression

Our approach reflects our ethos of quality through a well-structured, progressive curriculum; enthusiasm through engaging, hands-on learning experiences; and partnership through connections with our local environment and global issues.

Impact

The impact of our geography curriculum is evident in the following outcomes:

• Geographical Knowledge and Understanding: Pupils develop a comprehensive understanding of physical and human geography. They can confidently discuss natural features, human-environment interactions, and global issues, demonstrating the quality of their geographical education.
• Critical Thinking and Enquiry Skills: Pupils show the ability to think critically about geographical issues, ask pertinent questions, and conduct enquiries. This reflects our emphasis on quality learning and the development of essential geographical skills.
• Enthusiasm for Geography: Pupils demonstrate a love for geography, showing curiosity about the world around them and enthusiasm for exploring new places and concepts. This aligns with our school's ethos of fostering enthusiasm for learning.
• Practical Geographical Skills: Pupils are proficient in using maps, atlases, and other geographical tools, reflecting the success of our 'Fieldwork and Skills' core concept implementation.
• Global Awareness and Responsibility: Pupils understand their role as global citizens and can discuss complex issues such as climate change, resource distribution, and cultural diversity. This showcases the effectiveness of our 'People and Places' core concept and our emphasis on partnership with the wider world.
• Local Knowledge and Appreciation: Pupils have a deep understanding and appreciation of their local area and its place in the wider world, demonstrating the success of our approach to building geographical knowledge from the familiar to the global.
• Cross-Curricular Application: Pupils can apply their geographical knowledge and skills across other subjects, showing the quality and depth of their learning.

We assess these impacts through pupil voice, work scrutiny, and learning walks. Our geography teaching consistently demonstrates high standards, with engaging lessons that captivate pupils' interest. Through our contextualised and engaging geography curriculum, we foster a culture where children love geography, building within them a curiosity about people and places that enriches their understanding of the world.

History

Curriculum Intent

At Nicholas Hawksmoor Primary School, our history curriculum is designed to ignite children's curiosity about the past in Britain and the wider world. We believe that history is all around us, shaping our understanding of the present and influencing our future. Our intent is to provide a high-quality history education that helps pupils gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain's past and that of the wider world, inspiring their curiosity to know more about the past.

Our approach is built on three core concepts:

• Chronology: Developing a secure understanding of historical periods and their sequence.
• Change: Exploring how and why things have changed over time, and the impact of these changes.
• Curiosity: Fostering an inquisitive approach to historical inquiry and a passion for discovering events of the past and how they influence the present and future.

Through these core concepts, we aim to:

• Stimulate pupils' enthusiasm for, and understanding of, the past. We encourage children to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement. This approach aligns with our school's ethos of fostering enthusiasm for learning and partnering with students in their educational journey.
• Develop a sense of identity through learning about the past. We help pupils understand the complexity of people's lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups, as well as their own identity and the challenges of their time. This supports our commitment to quality education that prepares students for their roles as global citizens.
• Create strong cross-curricular links, particularly with geography, literacy, and the arts. By integrating history with other subjects, we provide a rich, holistic learning experience that demonstrates the relevance of historical thinking across all areas of study and life. This interdisciplinary approach reflects our dedication to providing a high-quality, comprehensive education.
• Foster skills of enquiry, analysis, interpretation, and problem-solving. These transferable skills not only serve pupils well in their historical studies but also in their wider academic and personal development, embodying our school's commitment to quality education and enthusiasm for lifelong learning.

Implementation

To achieve our intent, we implement a comprehensive and engaging approach to history education:

• Curriculum Structure: Our history curriculum is taught through clearly defined history units, allowing for in-depth exploration of topics. The curriculum is carefully sequenced to build on previous learning, progressing from familiar concepts in Key Stage 1 to more complex historical studies in Key Stage 2. This structure reflects our commitment to quality education and enthusiasm for deep, meaningful learning experiences.
• Chronological Understanding: In Key Stage 1, pupils begin with studies of familiar objects and places within living memory before moving beyond living memory. They explore topics such as toys, transport, and significant individuals. In Key Stage 2, British history is taught chronologically from the Stone Age to World War II, interspersed with studies of world civilizations. This approach helps pupils develop a clear sense of chronology, one of our core concepts.
• Emphasis on Change: Throughout our curriculum, we highlight how things have changed over time. From the evolution of toys and transport in Key Stage 1 to the transformations brought about by the Industrial Revolution in Key Stage 2, pupils are constantly engaged in exploring and understanding historical change.
• Fostering Curiosity: We encourage pupils to ask questions, investigate historical sources, and form their own opinions about historical events and figures. This inquiry-based approach is supported by a variety of resources, including primary and secondary sources, artifacts, and educational visits where possible.
• Skill Development: We focus on developing key historical skills such as research, interpretation of evidence, critical thinking, and argument formation. These skills are practiced and refined throughout the years, preparing pupils for more advanced historical study and supporting their overall academic development.
• Cross-curricular Integration: History is often integrated with other subjects, particularly geography, literacy, and the arts. This approach helps pupils see the connections between different areas of learning and reinforces core concepts and skills.

Key Resources

National Curriculum History

NHPS History Skills & Knowledge Progression

Ourapproach reflects our commitment to our ethos through a well-structured, progressive curriculum; engaging, hands-on learning experiences; and partnership through collaborative projects and community engagement where possible.

Impact

The impact of our history curriculum is evident in the following outcomes:

• Historical Knowledge and Understanding: Pupils develop a secure knowledge and understanding of people, events, and contexts from the historical periods covered. They can place historical events and people in a chronological framework and understand the connections between local, regional, national, and international history.
• Critical Thinking and Communication: Students demonstrate the ability to think critically about history and communicate their ideas confidently. They can support, evaluate, and challenge views using detailed, appropriate, and accurate historical evidence derived from a range of sources.
• Historical Enquiry Skills: Pupils show proficiency in historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims, and how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed.
• Enthusiasm for History: Students exhibit a passion for history and an enthusiastic engagement in learning. They show curiosity about the past and understand how and why people interpret the past in different ways, reflecting our school's ethos of fostering enthusiasm for learning.
• Respect for Evidence: Pupils demonstrate respect for historical evidence and the ability to make robust and critical use of it to support their explanations and judgements, aligning with our commitment to quality in education.
• Preparation for Future Learning: Our students are well-prepared for the next stage of their education, with a solid foundation in historical knowledge and skills that will serve them in their future studies and in understanding the world around them.

Through this comprehensive approach, grounded in our core concepts of chronology, change, and curiosity, and aligning with our ethos of quality, enthusiasm, and partnership, Nicholas Hawksmoor Primary School provides a history education that not only meets national standards but also inspires the next generation of historians, critical thinkers, and informed citizens.