The World: Geography, History & Languages
“This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.”
Psalm 118:23
Geography
What do we want to achieve for our children?
It is our intent for the Geography element of our school curriculum to inspire pupils with a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. Teaching should equip pupils with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes. The curriculum is designed to develop knowledge and skills that are progressive, as well as transferable, through their time at Boddington Primary Academy and into their further education.
At Boddington Primary Academy, our geography curriculum is designed to develop knowledge and skills that are progressive as well as transferable. Through revisiting these areas of learning regularly, children will remember more, know more and understand more. As pupils progress, we want our children to gain confidence and have practical experiences of geographical knowledge, understanding and skills that explain how the Earth’s features at different scales are shaped, interconnected and change over time.
Our geography curriculum is delivered primarily through our termly topics that cover a wide range of areas linked to the National Curriculum. The key geographical skills as set out in the National Curriculum underpin the planning, teaching and learning of geography at Boddington Primary Academy. These skills are: collecting and analysing a range of data gathered through fieldwork, interpreting sources of geographical information, including maps, globes and aerial photographs and communicating geographical information in a variety of ways.
Each unit includes opportunities for children to learn different, relevant geographical skills using our progression documents to ensure that learning is at an age-appropriate level. Through these topics, pupils will develop a good understanding of our local geography and environment. The local area is fully utilised to achieve the desired outcomes as well as opportunities for learning outside the classroom to be embedded in practice. In addition, we plan regular school trips to other areas of geographical important to provide further, relevant and contextual learning.
The learning taking place in geography lessons at Boddington Primary Academy will be evident through interactive and engaging classroom displays linked our topics and in our topic books that display the highlights of our learning over the course of a term. Whilst doing this, we aim to fuel excitement and curiosity year upon year motivating our pupils to be passionate for geography readying them to become pioneers of the future. Our pupils will have thoroughly enjoyed learning about geography, therefore encouraging them to undertake new life experiences now and in the future. As children progress through the school, they will deepen their knowledge, understanding and appreciation of their local area and it’s place within the wider geographical context.
History
What do we want to achieve for our children?
In History lessons at Boddington Primary Academy, we aim to bring the curriculum to life through having visitors to school, visiting sites of historical importance and ensuring children have access to historical artefacts. We strive to ignite a child’s natural curiosity to reflect, explore and discover an understanding of British history and that of the wider world, with an acknowledgement that God is with us in our learning journey. We strive to fulfil the requirements of the National Curriculum for History by providing: a board, balanced and differentiated curriculum, ensuring the progressive development of historical concepts, knowledge and skills; and for the children to develop a love for history.
Alongside this, we aim to incorporate British Values into our history curriculum, promoting values such as mutual respect, tolerance and individual liberty. We aim for pupils at Boddington Primary Academy to be engaged and motivated to deepen their knowledge of specific eras linked to the history curriculum.
How will we achieve this?
Our history curriculum is delivered primarily through our Class topics that cover a wide range of areas linked to the National Curriculum. The key historical skills as set out in the National Curriculum underpin the planning, teaching and learning of history at Boddington Primary Academy. These skills are: analysing and debating the reliability of sources, making comparisons between historical periods, drawing conclusions and making links between events.
Each unit includes opportunities for children to investigate, handle artefacts, pictorial and video evidence (where appropriate), take part in role play activities, visit relevant sites or museums and engage with historical characters and ways of life. Through these topics, pupils will develop a good understanding of our local history and environment, showing respect for the differences between people throughout history. All pupils will develop a sense of chronology in relation to their past, Britain’s history, as well as that of a wider world, all while continuing to underpin our values and school vision. At Boddington Primary Academy, we firmly believe in ‘do unto others as you would have done unto you’ (Matthew:7.12). In history lessons, we strive to ensure that pupils are respectful of any differences that become apparent between ourselves and the historical figures that we learn about.
What will this look like and how will it support my child now and in the future?
The learning taking place in history lessons at Boddington will be evident through interactive and engaging classroom displays linked our topics and time lines will be on display throughout the year and will be referred to during each unit. Whilst doing this, we aim to fuel excitement and curiosity year upon year motivating our pupils to be passionate for History readying them to become pioneers of the future. Our pupils will have thoroughly enjoyed learning about history, therefore encouraging them to undertake new life experiences now and in the future.
French
What do we want to achieve for our children?
In a multi–cultural society, learning a foreign language provides an opportunity to understand and show respect towards other cultures, fostering children’s curiosity and their understanding of the world. We will enable the children to learn basic skills in both oral and written French with the intention that this will provide the foundation for learning further languages in the future, enabling them to work and interact across the world.
How will we achieve this?
Children have weekly lessons in French from Year 1 onwards using the Language Angels programme of study. Areas covered include: numbers, colours, days of the week, animals, food, classroom instructions and equipment.
The children will be taught to listen attentively to spoken language and show understanding by joining in and responding. They will explore the sounds and patterns of language through rhymes, songs and story books. Using a growing bank of familiar vocabulary, the children will learn to speak in sentences using basic language structures and developing accurate pronunciation and intonation.
The children will begin to read carefully and show an understanding of words, phrases and simple writing. They will learn to use a bi lingual dictionary to broaden their vocabulary and develop their understanding of new words.
The children will find success in writing phrases from memory and adapt these to create sentences of their own. They will have an understanding of basic grammar, including feminine and masculine forms and use adjectives and adverbs to describe people, places, things and actions. They will know how these key features of language differ from or are similar to English.
How will this support the children and in the future?
The children will have developed a basic understanding of spoken and written French. They will be able to speak and understand French phrases and respond appropriately to questions asked in French. Our children will be well prepared to continue to learn French and/or other languages at secondary school.