History • Geography • RE • Reading
Our curriculum is built on joy, curiosity and purpose. Organised into four interconnected strands: STEM, Creative Communication, Humanities, and Personal & Physical Development, our curriculum is designed to ensure that every child secures the foundational knowledge they need to succeed, while also developing the independence, curiosity and resilience required for life beyond school.
The Humanities strand brings together history and geography. It supports pupils to understand the world they live in, past and present, and to make sense of people, places and events. Humanities learning is rooted in secure knowledge, clear sequencing and increasing independence.
This strand plays a vital role in developing pupils’ understanding of society, culture and environment, while nurturing curiosity and critical thinking.
Our Intent
We believe every child is a historian and geographer in the making. Humanities equips pupils to:
- Build secure knowledge of people, places, events and environments
- Understand chronology, cause and consequence, similarity and difference
- Use subject-specific vocabulary accurately
- Ask questions and interpret evidence
- Understand diverse perspectives and cultural contexts
Humanities learning is taught as a disciplined subject, rooted in knowledge and enquiry.
How We Organise Learning
Learning within Humanities is carefully structured to ensure that foundational knowledge is explicitly taught, revisited and secured.
Foundational knowledge includes:
- Key historical periods, events and figures
- Geographical locations, features and processes
- Subject-specific vocabulary and concepts
These are taught through:
- Clear explanation and modelling
- Structured discussion and questioning
- Regular retrieval and review
As pupils become more secure, they are supported to interpret sources, compare perspectives and explain their understanding.
Foundational and Conceptual Learning in Humanities
| Type | Examples | How it is taught |
| Foundational Knowledge | Dates, places, key events, terminology | Explicit teaching and retrieval |
| Foundational Processes | Sequencing, locating, describing | Guided practice with support |
| Conceptual Knowledge | Change, continuity, culture, environment | Explored through comparison and discussion |
| Conceptual Processes | Interpreting evidence, explaining significance | Applied through structured tasks |
Independent Application and Enquiry
We develop pupils to be ambitious, increasingly independent and secure in their learning. Opportunities for independent application allow pupils to deepen understanding and make connections across learning.
Pupils may:
- Analyse historical sources
- Compare places and environments
- Explain causes and consequences
- Present findings through writing or discussion
These experiences reinforce secure knowledge while developing enquiry skills.
Progression and Coherence
Humanities follows a clear progression from Early Years through to Upper Key Stage 2:
- Knowledge of time, place and context builds gradually
- Vocabulary and concepts are revisited and deepened
- Enquiry and explanation become increasingly sophisticated
This coherence supports confident and informed learners.
In Practice: Humanities at Nanstallon
In Year 3/4, pupils visited Golitha Falls as part of their geography study of rivers. They learned how rivers shape the landscape and explored how to stay safe near waterways, applying this understanding by contributing to the risk assessment for the visit.
Pupils compared local rivers with major rivers around the world, building secure geographical knowledge and vocabulary. They then used this knowledge to create physical models of waterways and produced documentary-style films using digital technology to explain why rivers are important to our planet.
This work enabled pupils to apply foundational geographical knowledge in meaningful contexts, strengthening understanding, independence and long-term retention.
Our curriculum blends structure and freedom, enabling every child to gain foundational skills while exploring and expressing their thinking deeply through joyful, purposeful learning.
