Key Stage 1 – Humanities

The national curriculum specifies certain areas of study in History and Geography and these are included in the topic-based WES Humanities course

During Key Stage 1 History the national curriculum specifies that children will learn about:

• changes within living memory
• events beyond living memory that are significant nationally or globally;
• the lives of significant individuals in the past
• significant historical events, people and places in their own locality.

During Key Stage 1 Geography the national curriculum specifies that children will study both their own locality and some other localities in the UK and in other countries. This will include:

• Locational knowledge
• Place knowledge
• Human and Physical geography
• Geographical skills and fieldwork

The WES Humanities course is a combination of History, Geography and RE taught in an integrated way through themes or topics, rather than as separate subjects. Many of the topics will also contain elements from the Art or Design Technology curriculum, also linking to aspects of Moral, Spiritual, Cultural and Social learning.

Much of the work in UK primary schools is based on the history and geography of the local area, which is presumed to be in the UK. For this reason many of the available resources are based on pictures and information about mainly English towns and villages. We have tried to incorporate as much material as possible which has a world focus and have included suggestions in all the topics for extending the topics to reflect your own environment. This may require some advance preparation.

The WES Humanities course includes all the topic specified in the national curriculum, usually as part of a cross-curricular theme.

WES Topics for Key Stage 1