Current Topics
Summer Term Whole School Topic – Amazing Africa and Awesome Ancient Egypt
We are delighted to introduce our new whole school topic and Years 3, 4 and 5 started with a stunning start on Monday 25th April with each class finding out about a chosen country in Africa. Please find our curriculum newsletter below and links to our year group learning journeys and core knowledge files. These are also available on our school website. Our humanities subject lead has worked closely with each year group to ensure that we have provided a progressive set of skills and knowledge across the Key Stage, and we have thought inclusively about our core literacy texts and topic books. We look forward to sharing more photos and information with you throughout the summer term.
We will be taken on a journey to Nigeria, where we will do an in-depth study of this West African country. Using “Living in Nigeria” as the basis for our geography lessons, we will learn about its varied physical and human geography, from the mountains and rich tropical rainforests in the South, to the vast grasslands and savannah in the North.
Later on in the Summer Term, we will look at the Ancient Egyptian civilisation. We will learn about the importance of the River Nile and what life was like for Ancient Egyptian children.
During our Summer Term topic, we will be comparing five African countries, from North, East, South, West and Central Africa. We will look at the differences and similarities in the physical and human geography of Botswana, Kenya, Gambia, Gabon and Algeria, including comparing the wildlife and landscapes. We will read “Africa Amazing Africa” to inspire our geography lessons.
When we learn about life in Ancient Egypt, we will look at the various jobs that people did back then, including farmers, scribes, priests and noblemen. We will also discover Egyptian gods, and what they believed happened in the afterlife.
In Year 5, we will start off by taking an imaginary tour of four African cities: Cairo (in Egypt), Lagos (the former capital city of Nigeria), Addis Ababa (the capital of Ethiopia) and Cape Town (which is one of three capitals of South Africa). We will learn about the differing ways that humans have impacted the environment of these cities, changing and developing the landscape. Our lessons will include reading “Cities of the world: Africa”, in order to learn about each of these locations.
In our history lessons, we will compare key events from the Ancient Egyptian era with what was happening at the same time in Britain and around the world. We will find out how the Ancient Egyptian people managed to thrive in a desert landscape, and about the power of the pharaohs.
Following our SATs assessments, we will study the biodiversity within African savannahs. This will include lots of learning about the physical geography of Africa and its varied wildlife. We will read about expedition life through the eyes of author, illustrator and explorer, Simon Chapman, in the book “Expedition Diaries: African Savannah”. We will also take a trip to Ethiopia, to learn more about this East African nation.
In our history lessons, we will cover the dynasties of the Ancient Egyptian pharaohs and the differing power and impact of each one. We will study how the Egyptians honoured their pharaohs, through the process of mummification and pyramid-building.
