Humanities
Intent Statement
Provision for all students
The curriculum for both History and Geography is tailored towards a wide variety of learning needs, and there are opportunities throughout the modules for all students to find success and accreditation. There are also numerous opportunities to improve social skills and develop confidence in the wider community. Both History and Geography are taught to all students at KS3. History and Religious Studies GCSE are currently offered as option subjects at KS4 for students who are on a higher pathway of learning. Students commencing their GCSE at CCfL at the start of year 10 study Edexcel GCSE History. Students who join CCfL in year 11 are offered a bespoke personalised learning package continuing the GCSE specification in History or Religious Studies they commenced at their previous school.
Planning and sequencing towards cumulative knowledge and skills
Both History and Geography at CCfL are taught in blocks throughout the year so that students can achieve depth in their learning. The key knowledge and skills of each topic ensures progression throughout each year group across the school. Cross-curricular outcomes in Geography are specifically planned for, with strong links between Geography and ICT, Mathematics, and Literacy. The local area is fully utilised to achieve the desired outcomes, with extensive opportunities for learning outside the classroom embedded in practice and fieldwork.
In History, the aim is to teach students over a two year period at KS3. The first year is spent developing knowledge and understanding and with the aim of securing and extending students' conceptual skills during the second year. GCSE History is taught in Year 10 and Religious Studies in Year 11 they are delivered by topic with each unit linked to increasing complexity of skill to equip students for their GCSE examinations.
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Acquisition and independent application of knowledge, skills and abilities
At CCfL we believe that History and Geography help to stimulate questions and provide answers to about the natural and human aspects of the world. Students are encouraged to develop a greater understanding and knowledge of the world, as well as their place in it by examining the past and making predictions about what might happen in the future. History and Geography are investigative subjects, so the curriculum aims to inspire students to examine and question why the world is the way it is so that they can find a place within it to be agents of change. We hope to inspire in students an investigative curiosity about the world and its people, which will remain, with them for the rest of their lives. We also want to promote the students’ interests and understanding of diverse places, people, resources, and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes. By encouraging students to examine the past we also want to promote a better understanding of the link between human processes and how ideas about the future have often resulted in conflict, change, and resolution. The curriculum is designed to develop knowledge and skills that are progressive, as well as transferable, throughout their time at the CCfL and also to their further education and beyond. In GCSE Religious Studies and History the skills of identifying, explaining and linking are revisited from lesson to lesson and unit to unit.
Accreditation pathways and preparation for Education, Employment, Training and adult life
Outcomes in books evidence a broad and balanced geography curriculum and demonstrate students’ ability to work independently towards set goals. Students review their learning at the end of each lesson as they work towards ASDAN levels 1 and 2 qualifications and a Certificate of Personal Effectiveness. History is developing a similar accreditation pathway so that students can work from Entry Level qualifications towards level 1 and 2 by the end of KS3. Students also record what they have learned comparative to their starting points at the end of every topic. As students’ progress throughout the school, they develop a deep knowledge, understanding and appreciation of their local area and its place within the wider geographical context. Students studying GCSE History and Religious Studies are expected to achieve a Grade 3, 4, or 5. They can use this qualification at college to support their transition to level 2 or 3 courses.
