History and Geography

Here at Lostock Gralam C of E Primary School we ensure our teaching and learning reflects our school vision ‘Children are at the heart of everything that we do and Christ is the light that guides us’ John 8:12.

Our children live out our Christian Values (Hope, Respect, Friendship, Love, Courage, Forgiveness) in their History and Geography lessons. 

Did you know that the word 'geography' is derived from Greek and literally means 'to write about the earth'?

Our children at Lostock Gralam love learning about the awe and wonder of God's earth. Using ‘Big questions' we aim to inspire children to ask about where things are in the world and how they got there. 

Our children delight in looking at maps and atlases and we encourage them to have a secure knowledge of the main capital cities, countries and continents of the world. As part of their history and geography work, each year group studies different countries progressively which widens and builds upon their understanding of God's world. These lessons begin with map work and develop into studying the human and physical features of that area the impact we as humans have made and the legacies that have been left.

In human geography, we teach children to consider the Christian Values of Love, Respect and Forgiveness as they learn about the impact and behaviour of people and how they relate to the natural world. This raises many topical issues and debates and we use current affairs and natural disasters to deepen these discussions.

In physical geography, we teach the children to learn about the natural features of the Earth's surface including land formation, climate and vegetation and natural disasters.

We encourage enquiry based fieldwork as part of our learning which means the children use our school and the local environment to observe, measure and record features such as the weather, the traffic and land use. On every school trip, (especially during our residential trips in Year Two to Fox Howl, Year Four to Llandudno and Year Six to Conwy) the children are able to use their geographical skills to plan routes or make comparisons to our local area.

Through our topic based teaching, children make constant cross-curricular links and as they grow, their geography knowledge grows from local, to national to international.

We ensure full coverage of the Geography National Curriculum by following the topics and objectives in the current Programmes of Study.

To find out more about the Geography objectives being covered and the topics covered in each year group, please download the attached files.

In our recent Pupil Voice meeting, children were quoted as saying:

Year 1 ‘We are learning about the countries next'

Year 2 ‘We have a lot of maps. We have world maps, United Kingdom maps and I coloured mine in with these colours that               show it is dry and sandy in Africa and it is cold here this continent (North America) and it is a bit warm but also a                 bit cold in Asia’

Year 3 ‘When we find out about places it is fun'

Year 4 ‘I like map work and finding the places on the map’

Year 5 ‘It’s really fun doing the maps and drawing what we know when we went for a walk around our school’

            'One of my favourite things is finding 6-figure grid references.'

Year 6 ‘I like it when we all get together and use atlases and compasses’

The English word history derives from Latin historia, which is the Latinization of the ancient Greek á¼±στορία (historia), meaning “inquiry, systematic observation, information”

At Lostock Gralam we want our children to experience being real historians through a range of different experiences. Within each History topic, children experience learning through a  variety of key skills including: Chronology, Concepts, Interpretation, Enquiry and Communication.’                                        

We encourage our children to use the Christian Values of respect and courage when enquiring about the past and asking questions about the way places and people have changed over time.  

Our enquiry led history curriculum weaves through the year groups progressively and build skills and knowledge over time. In the Early Years the children make connections with key vocabulary to place themselves in the past, present and future. Through year 1 and 2 our children delight in discovering how major innovations and inventions changed our world and how these impacted how and where people could travel to. As they enter Key Stage 2, our children become time travellers and develop their understanding of chronology by learning about key periods in the past from the Stone Age to the conflicts in World War 2.  

We value the opportunities for practical and hands on learning and carefully plan our trips out and visitors in to school to further enhance the curriculum.

In lessons our children get the chance to explore time and chronology through a range of timeline activities. They develop an understanding of how we find out about the past and about the different jobs and roles historians have.

Each topic involves the children asking their own questions and as they progress through school, they become proficient in researching and presenting knowledge in variety of ways. Throughout our curriculum, our children learn about a wide range of significant people from the past. As our children progress through school they are able to make links between people and events around the world. They understand how the concepts of cause and consequence, continuity and change, similarity, significance and change have impacted us and our thoughts and beliefs; our world and environment.

Our children love the opportunities to immerse themselves in their history lessons through different writing activities and these are often supported by ‘being in role’ through drama and inquiry. We have carefully planned writing lessons which make solid links with different genres and the topic area and give the children chance to embed their writing skills by communicating their knowledge through ‘real life’ writing.

We value the use of historical artefacts (which we have in school, experience on trips out and make use of our close links with the Cheshire Schools’ Library Service). Our children enjoy exploring different artefacts and using them to develop their interpretation skills.

Our topics are carefully planned to make secure links with other subjects where possible. E.g. Art-  replicating and taking inspiration from art in the past. Finding out about famous artists.  Science – by finding out about key Scientists.  Geography- making comparisons with old maps and comparing land use and change.

In a recent pupil voice discussion, our children talked about their learning in history:

Y1- 'This is our timeline and this part has already happened long ago when we were very little. Now we are in big school and this is like us now' 

Y2- 'I just love facts so I love things from the past.'

'When we were in Year 1 we found out about a lady who got famous because ladies weren't allowed to go to work but she did and she found an Amonite Fossil so she got famous. She is called Mary Anning'

'There wasn’t enough life boats because the company said to take them off. There were people in 1, 2 and 3rd class and they didn't get on the boats. The Carpathia boat rescued some people and took them to the new country.'

Y3- I like sharing what I already know and asking our questions. We saw photos of the caves in Spain that showed us the cave paintings and we did them in our Art. It was fun'

We love the book 'The street beneath my feet' It is the most popular because it folds out across the carpet and I like finding out the facts.

Y4- I liked drawing all about our Greek workshop day. I learned bout all of the city states and that they all speak the language. We made coins with the different animals.'

          'Greek visitors, there was quite a lot of acting in it which helped us to learn. We also enjoyed learning about how when we           made the coins there were different animals to represent the different cities. I loved playing a stone game.

'We learned that there were some ancient places that started long ago.' 

Y5- 

Y6- Finding out about all of the different crimes and punishments in the past and how it was very different to now. Making Dunking stools.

Files to Download