Humanities

Geography

Geography at DCPS is taught to all pupils as a subject and we hope the pupils will gain an interest and appreciation of the world around us both locally and also on a larger global scale. We encourage them to use a range of geographical skills to encourage them to develop their knowledge and understanding of places. We feel a wider awareness of places will allow pupils to recognise the patterns, processes and the environmental change that is so topical currently and how a move towards sustainable development may occur in the future.

We aim to stimulate a curiosity about the world; introduce children to people, places and environments and develop an understanding of physical and human landscapes and the impact man has upon their environments.

These core objectives are covered using a wide range of topics including; Rainforests, The Local Surroundings, Polar Regions, The Americas, European countries, China, Ordnance Survey map skills, Rivers, Mountain environments, Weather, and Conservation.

As we are fortunate to have a fantastic site, our pupils appreciate the local environment and many cross curricular aspects of our geography match in very well with our Outdoor Learning lessons that take place in Forest School sessions that occur weekly. Our Year 6 residential visit to one of our National Parks also has elements that lend themselves to experiencing and reinforcing much of what we have covered in lessons.

History

History at DCPS is taught to all pupils as a subject and we hope the pupils will gain an interest and appreciation of the importance of how history has shaped the modern world that we live in. We hope that they will develop a real desire to want to know more about the past, and the long term aim is that they will seek out the periods of history that appeal to them and that they want to further research. In order to develop this passion we use a chronological framework that allows them to build up a timeline of events. This approach then allows us to build up the pupils’ knowledge of what past societies were like, how these societies organised themselves and what beliefs and cultures influenced people’s actions.

We encourage the pupils to develop a range of enquiry-based skills in order to understand how people in the past lived their lives, and compare and contrast this with contemporary lifestyles. The ability to use evidence and the reliability of it is one skill we feel is really important, especially when looking at how British History links with that of other European and world countries.

Developing the ability to organise and communicate historical knowledge and understanding orally, visually and in writing is done using a variety of topics such as Stone and Iron Age, The Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. We also look at the changes to Britain that took place during the Viking and Saxon Settlers, How the Monarchy has influenced the UK as well as Tudor and Victorian legacy and the effects on life around that time. We also cover World War 2 and the immediate aftermath, especially on the change it brought to Europe.