History

Ancient Greece

Children will encounter Alexander the Great and will learn about how he built a vast empire.  They will use their knowledge of world geography to recognise the size of Alexander’s empire and will begin to understand how culture, religion and language can spread as an empire grows.

Children will learn about the development of Athenian Democracy and will contrast the values held by the citizens of the Athens with those of the war focussed Spartans. Importantly, children will see how long held hatred between enemies can be put aside when an outside threat, King Darius and his Persian Army, required the city-states to unite to defend Greece from invasion.

Studying this period of History provides children with a fascinating insight into how Greeks from different city states lived, the Gods they worshipped and the stories they told of monsters, heroes, challenges and bravery.

Art and Design

Light

This unit introduces the children to how artists use light. It starts by exploring how form is shown by how light falls on an object. Children describe the different tones artists can use to show light as well as learning, through the work of Caravaggio how artists can use extremes of light to create drama. They practise their skills to create still life drawings using graphite, chalk and charcoal to show tone.

The children then look at the work of Vermeer, another master of light, considering how he used extremes of light to create a calm realism. They compare this with the drama of the work of Caravaggio.  The children then develop their skills using acrylics to paint a still life using tone to create form. They learn how painters traditionally used a ‘ground’ and ‘underpainting’ as a basis for their paintings and use the same techniques.

Design & Technology

Cushions

Children will make a cushion decorated with the appliqué technique for their own/a family member’s/a friend’s use at home.

Geography

Spatial Sense

Each year our geography curriculum begins with a ‘Spatial Sense’ unit that explicitly teaches geographical skills such as locating places on a map, positioning items on a map, using symbols in a key, interpreting scale, reading climate graphs, identifying locations using co-ordinates, interpreting population data, identifying elevation on relief maps and more.

The spatial sense units for each year group are positioned at the beginning of the year to explicitly teach skills which will then be used in context throughout the rest of the year as children apply those skills to learn more about people, places and the environment.

Science

States of Matter and the Water Cycle

Children will learn about the main parts of the Water Cycle including evaporation, condensation, precipitation and collection. They will learn about each part in detail before piecing them all together to complete the cycle.

Using the example of water, they consider its different forms, as a solid, liquid and gas. They will learn that When you boil water in a kettle, it turns to a gas called steam, which is invisible. When steam moves away from the kettle where it had reached boiling point, it condenses into water vapour, which we can see. They will work scientifically to monitor the temperature of melting ice.

Later in the unit, children focus upon another process within the water cycle, condensation. They will learn this is the reverse of evaporation. Condensation occurs when water vapour within the air changes state, it cools and becomes liquid, water. Within a cloud, water droplets become too large for the cloud to hold and gravity brings the water back down to the surface of the earth as precipitation, often this takes the form of rain.  They will work scientifically to observe condensation appearing on the side of a cold drink can.

After learning about evaporation and condensation, children will learn about precipitation. They will learn that certain types of cloud bring rainfall.