| History and Geography | |
| History and Geography Subject Overview 2025 – 2026 | Download |
History
At our school, we want children to become curious, independent thinkers who enjoy exploring the past. History helps children understand the world around them, make connections across time, and recognise how people and events have shaped society today.
We nurture inquisitive learners who can ask thoughtful questions, investigate evidence, and form their own historical understanding.
Intent:
We aim for all pupils
- Develop secure chronological understanding from EYFS and continuing their learning journey in this adding events as they are taught throughout Key Stage 1 and 2
- Ask and answer historical questions using evidence from varying sources
- Understand key historical events, people, and periods
- Recognise similarities, differences, cause and effect, and historical significance
- Appreciate diverse perspectives and their local area and global heritage
- Become confident, reflective, and critical thinkers
Implementation:
- EYFS: Children explore past and present through stories, family timelines, role-play, and talk about changes over time.
- KS1: Pupils study significant people and events from beyond living memory and within living memory, developing a sense of time and change.
- KS2: Pupils develop chronological understanding through British and world history, learning about ancient civilisations, local history, and themes across time.
Teaching includes:
- Enquiry-based lessons
- Vocabulary progression and chronological language
- Handling artefacts, images, maps, timelines
- Storytelling and role-play
- Educational visits, visitors into school and local history walks of our villages
Impact:
Children will:
- Use historical vocabulary confidently
- Show understanding of chronology and key events
- Investigate sources and explain how the past is interpreted
- Communicate ideas clearly in spoken, written and creative forms
- Enjoy history and talk about their learning with enthusiasm
We measure impact through:
- Pupil voice and book looks
- Learning Walks
- Quizzes
- Skills and knowledge progression monitoring using our lesson slides and recapping each week and an end of unit assessment
Geography
Intent:
At The Federation of Longhorsley and Whalton C of E Schools, our geography curriculum develops pupils’ understanding of the world and their place within it. We aim to nurture curious, knowledgeable and reflective geographers who recognise the connections between people, places and environments.
Through a carefully sequenced curriculum from the Early Years to Year 4, pupils build strong locational knowledge, place knowledge and geographical skills. Learning begins with a focus on the local community and gradually expands to national, European and global contexts, enabling pupils to make meaningful comparisons and develop a wider understanding of the world.
Geography supports pupils’ personal development by encouraging empathy, responsibility and respect for others. Pupils explore how human and physical processes affect lives around the world and consider how choices and actions can have an impact at both a local and global scale.
Implementation:
Geography is taught through a structured and progressive curriculum aligned with the National Curriculum and enriched through regular fieldwork and outdoor learning. Knowledge and skills are revisited and built upon over time to ensure depth, progression and retention.
Fieldwork is a central feature of geography across all year groups. Pupils observe, measure, record and analyse their local environment using maps, compasses, data collection and digital tools. Local contexts such as Longhorsley, Whalton, Northumberland, nearby rivers and urban centres are used to anchor learning and make geography relevant and meaningful.
Teaching promotes enquiry, discussion and reflection. Pupils are encouraged to consider different perspectives, understand the experiences of others and evaluate evidence. High expectations and inclusive practice ensure all pupils are supported to participate fully and apply their learning with confidence.
Impact:
Pupils develop a secure understanding of geography and can confidently describe, explain and compare places and environments. They use geographical vocabulary accurately and apply fieldwork and mapping skills with increasing independence.
Pupils demonstrate positive attitudes to learning and an increasing awareness of their responsibilities towards others and the environment. They show respect for people, places and cultures and understand the importance of caring for the world they live in.
By the end of Year 4, pupils are well prepared for upper stage key stage 2 geography and for life beyond the classroom, equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to engage thoughtfully with the world around them.
