HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY

At Holy Cross Catholic Primary we believe that high-quality history lessons inspire children to want to know more about the past and to think and act as historians. By linking learning to a range of topics, children have opportunities to investigate and interpret the past, understand chronology, build an overview of Britain’s history as well as that of the wider world, and to be able to communicate historically. 

We aim to develop these essential characteristics to help children become historians: 

• An excellent knowledge and understanding of people, events and contexts from a range of historical periods, including significant events in Britain’s past; 
• The ability to think critically about history and communicate ideas confidently to a range of audiences; 
• The ability to support, evaluate and challenge their own and others’ views using historical evidence from a range of sources; 
• The ability to think, reflect, debate, discuss and evaluate the past by formulating and refining questions and lines of enquiry; 
• A respect for historical evidence and the ability to make critical use of it to support their learning; 
• A desire to embrace challenging activities, including opportunities to undertake high-quality research across a range of history topics; 
• A developing sense of curiosity about the past and how and why people interpret the past in different ways.

History fires pupils’ curiosity about the past and the wider world. Pupils will develop skills and knowledge, through researching, sifting through evidence and engaging in active discussion – skills that will prepare them for adult life.

At Holy Cross Catholic Primary geography is increasingly being taken outside the classroom to gain ‘hands on’ experiences. This ranges from fieldwork in the school grounds, to visits, walks around the local community, and further afield.  We are fortunate to be located on a peninsula with easy access to the beach, river, city and other manmade and natural environments.

Geography draws on its vast range of vocabulary to identify and name places, the features within them and the human and physical processes at work there. It provokes and answers questions about the natural and human world.  It develops knowledge of places and environments throughout the world, an understanding of maps, and a range of problem-solving and investigative skills both inside and outside the classroom. Geography is an important link between natural and social sciences and focuses on understanding and tackling issues about the environment.

Geography also helps our children to understand how and why places are changing, and better predict what the likely futures may be and their potential impact upon them. This approach deepens understanding of what places are like, why and how they are connected, and the importance of location. Geography gives children a sense of place; an understanding of the connections between humans and the world around them and the impact that humans have on it and each other.

Geography is an enquiry led subject that seeks answers important questions such as:

• Where is this place?
• What is it like? (And why?)
• How and why is it changing?
• How does this place compare with other places?
• How and why are places connected?

It is important that a geographer, no matter how young, does not just answer questions but also asks and debates them:

• What could/should the world be like in the future?
• What can we do to influence change?

Geography deals with the ‘here and ‘now’ of real life and as such, is a vital ‘living’ subject that contributes to and enhances the wider curriculum.