History and Geography
At Honley CofE JIN School, our History and Geography curriculum aims to: develop all
children’s understanding of their place in the world by promoting their curiosity and fascination for
the world around them.
Our history curriculum encourages people to at Honley CofE JIN School, we want our History
curriculum to encourage our pupils to become active learners and develop their passion for history
and a sense of who they are - locally, nationally and globally. Our aim is to develop well-rounded and
successful historians, informed by the National Curriculum, and exposed to planned and
differentiated lessons. History can broaden cultural horizons.
We aim to support our children to deepen their cultural understanding and develop a desire to
engage further. We want our children to develop a strong understanding of History so that they ask
and answer questions about the world around them and be able to link what has happened in the
past with what is happening today. We want our children to be excited about History and develop a
passion for finding out more.
In Geography, our aim at Honley CofE JIN School is to inspire children’s curiosity, interest and appreciation for the world that we live in. We intend to equip children with geographical skills to develop their
knowledge through studying places, people and natural and human environments. As geographers,
pupils are exposed to a rich and balanced curriculum that provides them with new vocabulary and
sticky facts. Our ambition is to teach geography in such a way as to excite our children and
encourage them to ask questions about the world in which they live. We want our children to
develop a broad understanding of how Honley and Huddersfield sit within the country, the continent
and the world. Our intention is for pupils to know how the world has developed and changed over
time, not just physically but through human interaction. We want our children to think as
geographers looking at the world and thinking about the processes of the planet, assembling the
concepts they have learned over time as if putting together a jigsaw puzzle. Through our curriculum
we want to create a curiosity and fascination that is lifelong and for our children to enjoy the wonder
of our beautiful world.
Home Learning - History and Geography
History at home
In the local area
Have a walk to Castle Hill, find out about the Jubilee Tower.
Walk to the Honley War memorial and see if you can spot any familiar names
Local Museums to visit
Family history
Find out about your family tree, ask your parents and grand parents questions about their lives (history in living memory), do they have any stories of what life was like for prior generations of your family?
Online research
There are many history websites that allow you to tour historical sites virtually. Machu Picchu can be toured here.
The Historic Royal Palaces website allows you to learn about the history of the British monarchy and play some online lines.
Geography at home
In the garden
If you are lucky enough to have some open space available, here are some simple ideas that children of all ages can do. One simple thing for you to do is to record the nature that you can see and think about what you could do to encourage more of it into your garden.
Weather and clouds
Keep a weather diary for a week, recording the cloud cover, temperature, rainfall and other weather activity. You may want to check a forecast for the week ahead first using an app or website such as Yr, and then compare with the reality with the forecast.
Download a cloudwheel from the Royal Meteorological Society (RMetS) to help children identify the clouds they are seeing.
Mapping activities
Walking and memory activity
Combine your daily walks with memory and artistic activities. Map your walk, which could be one you recently remember walking, your route to school, from a family holiday. You could also record what you remember seeing on your walk such as physical and human features, geographical vocabulary such as road, building, park, houses. See our school website for key geographical vocabulary in Curriculum/Geography.
Draw a physical map of your house, street or local area, consider what it is like and how you could change it for the better.
Design and create a model of the layout (plan view) of your home and think about what you would change if you could. Create a key with symbols and label it.
Create an imaginary landscape in your bedroom and think about what you might find happening across its physical and human elements.
Make detailed observations of what you can ‘see’ every day and what might cause that view to change.
