Geography & History

Intent
At St Philips CofE Primary School, our History and Geography curriculum aims to develop all children’s understanding of their place in the world by promoting their curiosity and fascination for the world around them.

We want our History curriculum to encourage our pupils to become active learners and develop their passion for history and a sense of who they are – locally, nationally and globally. Our aim is to develop well-rounded and successful historians, informed by the National Curriculum, and exposed to carefully planned and ambitious lessons. History can broaden cultural horizons. Children at St Philip’s come from an inner city setting and as a result, some have limited opportunities to explore a wider history of the world.
We aim to support our children to deepen their cultural understanding and develop a desire to
engage further. We want our children to develop a strong understanding of History so that they ask
and answer questions about the world around them and be able to link what has happened in the
past with what is happening today. We want our children to be excited about History and develop a
passion for finding out more.

In Geography, our aim at St-Philips is to inspire children’s curiosity, interest and appreciation for the
world that we live in. We intend to equip children with geographical skills to develop their knowledge through studying places, people and natural and human environments. As geographers,
we want our pupils to be exposed to a rich and balanced curriculum that provides them with new vocabulary and sticky facts. Our ambition is to teach geography in such a way as to excite our children and encourage them to ask questions about the world in which they live. We want our children to develop a broad understanding of how Hulme and Manchester sit within the country, the continent and the world. Our intention is for pupils to know how the world has developed and changed over time, not just physically but through human interaction. We want our children to think as geographers looking at the world and thinking about the processes of the planet, assembling the
concepts they have learned over time as if putting together a jigsaw puzzle. Through our curriculum
we want to create a curiosity and fascination that is lifelong and for our children to enjoy the wonder
of our beautiful world.

Implementation
Our curriculum is underpinned by the National Curriculum, which has been adapted so that learning is put into meaningful contexts that will be built upon as children progress through school. At St Philips, Geography and History are taught for half a term every term for one hour per week. We use the Rising Stars Scheme in which topics are blocked to allow children to focus on developing their knowledge and skills, studying each topic in depth. We have developed a progression of skills with each year group, which enables pupils to build on and develop their skills each year. Also, this approach provides the opportunity for mastery of these foundation subjects, as well as the potential to achieve a greater depth understanding beyond that level.

In History, children will begin to understand what historians do. They will look closely at the world around them, both locally and further afield, and gain an appreciation of people, time and places different to their own. In Geography, pupils are given the opportunity to develop knowledge and skills that are transferable to other curriculum areas and which can, and are used, to promote their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Each geography unit is delivered through the posing of a big question which and ends with a ‘big finish’ which allows learners to engage and reflect throughout the lesson and unit which allows them to see the ‘bigger picture’. With the units that focus on ‘Our local area’, fieldwork is encouraged which allows the children to apply their geographical skills in a real life setting.

EYFS
At St-Philips we ensure that we guide our EYFS children to make sense of their physical world and
their community. Previously we focused our history and geography around the areas of People and Communities, The World and Technology. Under the new EYFS framework we have made changes to topics so that they are more structured and relatable to history and geography, with a focus on:
• Past and Present
• People, Culture and Communities
• The Natural World

The aim of the new EYFS framework in regard to history and geography is still to ‘guide children to
make sense of their physical world and their community’. We have also introduced new
additions, which aim to provide children with:
• increased knowledge and a sense of the world around them
• visits to parks, libraries and museums
• the opportunity to listen to stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems
• an understanding of our culturally, socially, technologically and ecologically diverse world

Geography & History - Gallery