St Thomas a Becket Catholic Primary School

History

History Statement of Intent

Topics are informed by the national curriculum and within the context of the local area. The history curriculum at St Thomas a Becket Catholic Primary School is carefully planned and structured to ensure that current learning is linked to previous learning and that the school’s approaches are informed by current pedagogy. The curriculum at St Thomas a Becket Catholic Primary School aims to ensure that all pupils:

• Gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world which helps to stimulate pupils’ curiosity to know more about the past;
• Are encouraged to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement;
• Begin to 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.

The curriculum is designed develop knowledge and skills that are progressive, as well as transferable, throughout their time at St Thomas a Becket Catholic Primary School and also to their further education and beyond. We want the children to enjoy and love learning about the past within practical, exciting and thought-provoking contexts.

Geography

Geography Statement of Intent

At St Thomas a Becket Catholic Primary School, we follow the programmes of study of the National Curriculum for Geography. We believe that Geography gives the children an opportunity to explore and investigate questions in order to understand the world they live in and the world that will support them for the rest of their lives. The children we teach are the future generations and so we strive to support them in understanding the world they live in. We seek to inspire in children a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people which will remain with them for the rest of their lives; to promote the children’s interest and understanding of diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes. We also want the children to develop geographical skills: connecting and analysing data, using maps, atlases, globes, aerial photographs and digital mapping to name, identify and locate countries, continents and oceans. The curriculum is designed develop knowledge and skills that are progressive, as well as transferable, throughout their time at St Thomas a Becket Catholic Primary School and also to their further education and beyond. We want the children to enjoy and love learning about Geography both inside and outside the classroom, including educational visits to develop fieldwork and to practice their geographical skills.

The new curriculum for Geography will ensure that all pupils develop a contextual knowledge of place, seas and oceans including defining physical and human characteristics. Throughout Key Stage 2 pupils should extend their knowledge and understanding beyond the local area to include the United Kingdom and Europe, North and South America. This will include the location and characteristics of a range of the world’s most significant human and physical features. They should develop their use of geographical tools and skills to enhance their locational and place knowledge.