Topic

History and Geography

Our humanities curriculum is broad and balanced. Our school follows a scheme of learning named ‘Cornerstones’. Each year group has its own specific learning topic theme, such as ‘Bright Lights, Big City', ’Magnificent Monarchs’, ‘Britain at War!’ and ‘Groundbreaking Greeks’. Teaching through this whole school  approach allows the children to consistently build upon skills from previous years helping to eliminate gaps in knowledge.

As a school, for both history and geography, we are lucky to be situated in a town with a rich local history and landscape. This includes Bungay Staithe, Bungay Castle, and St Mary’s Church which features in ‘The Story of the Black Dog of Bungay’. Relating to our topics, we frequent these and many more places to make the curriculum “real” and come to life.

Our curriculum also teaches children about the wider world and how they play a role in it. We frequently use a website called ‘Lyfta’ which gives virtual tours and first-hand accounts of local communities from around the world, most of which our students may never have the opportunity to visit.

Each class in the school has its own ‘Working Timeline’, and when a new significant event or person is covered, it is added on. This helps to give the children a perspective of time, which is particularly useful when they learn about ancient civilisations. A class moving up a year group will have their timeline travel with them to their new classroom, so their historical knowledge and previous learning is not lost and can be built upon.