At St. Mary’s Catholic Primary School, Personal, Social, Health, and Economic (PSHE) education is embedded within ouroverarching curriculum that prepares our children for many different aspects of their lives.
Our overall goal is to help our children to become well-rounded individuals with strong character, who will eventually go out into the world of adults and be actively and positively involved in society. In order to do this, we are striving to create a conducive environment around the school and this year we have created our own specific Personal Development Curriculum that is entwined with our academic history curriculum.
Our history curriculum aims to provide engagement and enrichment and through this, we aim for all children to have equal opportunities to thrive together.
The children have been talking about 'Adventures through Time', we looked at family history, our achievements, Kings and Queens and how different transports have changed over time.
Stone Age Workshop
We have taken part in a Stone Age Workshop where we learnt lots of new vocabulary and used artefacts to find out all about that period in history.
This term, in Piano class, we have been learning about Anglo-Saxons. We have researched why they invaded Britain and how they settled here and built-up villages with homes made of wattle and daub. The children were very interested when we looked at the significance of Sutton Hoo and how that helped archaeologists find more information about how they were buried with their treasures which related to their religion. The children worked in pairs to look at some artefacts found in the Sutton Hoo to find out whether the people buried there were wealthy. We held an investigation to see how the Anglo-Saxons were converted from Paganism to Christianity with the help of the missionaries, St Aiden, St Columba and St Augustine; the children thought St Aiden made the biggest impact because he thought of the working-people not just the rich. We studied King Alfred the Great's work and using different sources we wanted to find out if he was worthy of his title and whether the opinions of Alfred's followers were bias.
The Blitz - WWII
In Saxophone class, we have been analysing different sources to see what they can tell us about The Blitz.
Flute Class have been learning about the Stone Age in History so in English have listened to the book, 'The Stone Age Boy' they have then described the Stone Age setting in the book.
In Accordion Class this half term we have been looking at celebrations, the children talked about Diwali, we looked at creating our own Rangoli patterns using the coloured rice, powder paints outside and drawing materials along with diva lamp number recognition.
History in Harp Class
We have been learning about how children’s lives have changed over time.
Black History Month
Saxophone Class have been researching about people who have been persecuted for speaking out about injustice.
Flute Class learnt about Ruby Bridges starting a new school where she was the only black child. The children discussed how she must have felt and how brave she was.
In Bodhran class we learnt all about Mae Jemison, we role played different events in her life and created our own time line of Mae’s exciting life. We learnt that not only was Mae Jemison a doctor and a scientist but she was the first ever black woman to go into space… what a fantastic achievement.
Academic Year 23-24
In History, Hughes Class have been exploring different toys and investigating how toys have changed throughout history. We enjoyed playing with some older toys such as music boxes, marbles, jacks and Jacob's ladders. We also enjoyed sharing our favourite toys and discovering the toys our parents had spent time playing with when they were younger. We have done lots of comparing, thinking about what is the same and what is different and this skill will help us as we move forward in our history lessons.
In history year 5/6 have been studying WWII. We've written a letter to our parents in London from the perspective of a WWII evacuee child. We have also written a recount about rationing.
Year 2 have been learning all about Florence Nightingale and writing non-chronological reports about her life and how she changed hospitals for the better.
Anglo-Saxons Homes - Year 4
During Year 4s second lesson of a topic on the Anglo-Saxons, we discussed the differences between settlements in the Iron Age and in the Anglo-Saxon period. We used different sources to identify the similarities and differences; then worked with a partner to make our own representation of how Anglo-Saxons used wattle and daub.
Year 1 have created a display to show the effects of 'The Great Fire of London,' and how the fire spread.
Lionni Class sequencing the key events in Florence Nightingale's life.
We Will Remember Them...
Year 2 created Remembrance Day acrostic poems and a wreath.
Year 4 remember them ❤️ 🌹
We Will Remember Them
In Maurice Sendak Class, we have created our own Remembrance Day poems to remember our fallen service men and women. We have also sold poppies and other items for the Poppy Appeal.
Ancient Egypt in History - Potter Class
The children have been learning about Ancient Egypt in History, this is also linked to our art topic this term of Ancient Egyptian Scrolls. We have looked at Artefacts, mummification, Egyptian God's and Goddess's and the discovery of the first tomb.
Year 4/5 have been learning about the Anglo-Saxons the Vikings in history this half term
Black History Month
Year 2 learnt about Ruby Bridges and how she felt about starting a new school where she was the only black child.
Year 1 have also learnt about Ruby Bridges and drew pictures to describe what happened.
EYFS- We are all unique.
Ancient Greek Pottery Painting
Today, we painted our Ancient Pottery in orange and black, colours used to on the original Ancient pottery.
Ancient Greek pottery
Sendak class harnessed their pottery skills this morning to create a pot or bowl with an Ancient Greek theme. The aim was to use intricate patterns and markings to represent an aspect of Ancient Greek life that we have explored earlier in the topic. The designs are outstanding and we can't wait to show off the painted, finished pieces later next week.
Sendak Class - Life in Ancient Greece
The children worked in groups to explore an element of Ancient Greek life. They then presented their fact files to the rest of the class.
Exploring Ancient Greece
Our year5/6 history topic for this half term is Ancient Greece. We began the topic by reading through a knowledge organiser with key terms and vocabulary. We then looked at a Greek myth and discussed how the landscape of the country effected how the Greek people lived.
Academic year 22-23
Understanding the world in EYFS
In our 'Understanding the World' topic we have looked at families and what a family tree is. Recently we have had a competition in the class to see if the children can guess who the babies are! Even Mrs Greer, Mrs English and Miss Ward have their photos on the board. The children have had a guess which meant writing their friends' names on a post it, then sticking it on the photograph!
Family trees, and how we have changed
We made a family tree out of train track, it was lovely to see all the family groups!
Can you guess who we all are?
History in Year 1
Holmes Class looked at toys from the past today to find similarities and differences to their own toys.
Today we became History Detectives! We used clues to figure out when the Great Fire of London was and how it started. The children worked in groups, with their adult and came up with some incredible ideas! We even spoke about whether we thought it was accidental or on purpose - an interesting discussion in Holmes Class!
History in Year 2/3
Designing advertisements for the Titanic's first maiden voyage in King Class.
King Class has been reflecting upon why we wear poppies on poppy day and how we remember the soldiers who fought for us.
King Class-To start our 'Remembrance Day' topic we listened to the story of 'Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge' as a way of exploring children’s understanding of memories. We found out that memories can be funny, sad and scary, we then shared our own special memories with the class.
History in Year 3/4
Stone Age
History in Year 4/5
The Romans
The Anglo - Saxons
History in Year 5/6
Year 5/6 - The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas Newspaper Articles
During our history and English, we have focused on the book 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas' and we have now created a newspaper article for missing Bruno. Please take a look.