At Rockliffe Manor Primary School and the Inspire Partnership, we provide pupils with a knowledge rich curriculum that recognises substantive and disciplinary knowledge are intrinsically linked and interdependent. Our carefully chosen content places core knowledge at the heart of each curriculum subject. The knowledge is cumulative and constructs firm foundations from EYFS which children can build conceptual understanding over time.

Key conceptual knowledge is mapped and sequenced in termly overviews and through the knowledge organisers. Core knowledge is drawn from the National Curriculum, and within discrete subjects, categories of knowledge are identified to ensure broad coverage and progression across each year group.  The subjects are sequenced carefully to ensure that all children receive their full entitlement to our ambitious curriculum content.

Our Global Curriculum gives our children opportunities to make sense of the increasingly complex and rapidly changing world in which they live. Our curriculum enables pupils to think critically about world issues and to develop an awareness of the impact our actions can have on others. 

The six global themes the children learn are: Social Justice and Equity; Identity and Diversity; Sustainable Development; Peace and Conflict; Human Rights; and Power and governance.

Children apply their core knowledge through termly projects, which are knowledge rich, aspirational and contextualised. Children work towards authentic outcomes and engage with real-life audiences. They undertake projects that involve complex issues, and in doing so, develop an understanding of what is possible and a belief that they can make a difference. We provide rich opportunities for the children to explore citizenship and real-life world issues, which at times they may have to grapple with to make sense of it. This, in turn, helps them to develop skills such as collaboration and communication, thus equipping them with the necessary skills for life in the 21st century. Across each year a number of high-quality core texts are used to bring the themes and knowledge to life for our children and to promote a connectedness with the learning.

Humanities within a global curriculum

At Rockliffe Manor, we aim to educate the next generation about the planet they live on, its past and its challenges. We want all our pupils to be passionate about history and geography and to develop a love of learning for these subject disciplines. Within the learning journeys, we encourage pupils to develop their critical thinking, problem-solving and oracy skills.

The humanities learning is woven into our global curriculum so that children contextualise their learning and make connections with their prior knowledge. This encourages pupils to become conscious and connected global citizens. Embedded throughout our curriculum are multiple opportunities for the pupils to explore their local history and geography. Pupils are also exposed to ‘hidden and untold stories’ of individuals and groups of people from a range of time periods. This allows pupils to learn about diverse cultures, and people who are similar and different to them. As a result, the children can see themselves and their cultures and ethnicities reflected in the periods of history that they learn. For example, within the Year 3 learning journey, pupils explore the traditional history of the suffragette movement as well as the ‘untold story’ of Princess Sophia Singh, who was a prominent Indian campaigner for women’s rights in the United Kingdom. Take a look at our Humanities overview and watch our ‘Humanities in a Global Context’ video to see how more of these hidden histories are woven through the year groups.