Humanities
Geography
At St Matthew’s, our geography curriculum is progressive, sequentially building on key geographical concepts and knowledge from EYFS to the end of KS1 – progressively building on knowledge and skills, revisiting key concepts and knowledge categories to build long-term memory and recall.
Our Geography follows the national curriculum, and aims to build long-term memory of geographical knowledge and skills helping pupils to making connections – using the key concepts of investigating places, investigating patterns, and Communicating geographically. Our Geography knowledge categories are: Location, physical features, human features, diversity, physical processes, human processes and techniques. Our geographical knowledge webs present topics around the key concepts by using the relevant knowledge categories. Revisiting these key concepts and knowledge categories aims to help pupils make connections in learning.
Topics are re-visited in both years of KS1 to develop long term memory and deeper knowledge and understanding. KS1 builds on geographical learning in EYFS, where pupils focus on investigating places and patterns and to communicate geographically.
Our geography curriculum focuses on key vocabulary in each lesson engaging pupils in the use of geographical language so that they can communicate well as geographers.
History
History follows the national curriculum, aiming to build long-term memory of history knowledge and skills through topics. The curriculum is progressive and sequential from EYFS to the end of KS1 teaching history knowledge, skills and vocabulary through engaging and meaningful topics.
Topics are taught using the key concepts of Investigating and interpreting the past, building an overview of world history, understanding chronology, and communicating historically. Knowledge categories studied through the topics are: Settlements / Beliefs / Culture and pastimes / Location / Main events / Food and farming / Travel and exploration / Conflict / Society / Artefacts. In KS1, knowledge webs present topics around the key concepts by using relevant knowledge categories.
Focus on key vocabulary in each lesson engages pupils in the use of historical language enabling them to communicate and articulate their learning as historians.
Revisiting key concepts and knowledge categories helps to make connections in learning in history.
The same topics are re-visited so that pupils can explore further as historians, developing long term memory and deeper knowledge by the end of KS1.
