• To develop pupils’ love for the natural world and all its human and physical aspects.
• To develop pupils’ curiosity for the natural world as well as a sense of care for the planet and its inhabitants.
• To acquire and develop practical skills in Geography (map and compass reading, measuring temperature etc.).
• To develop pupils’ sense of identity based on their knowledge of Geography to help them become responsible and caring citizens of the world.
• To develop pupils’ tolerance for others’ religions, life beliefs and viewpoints.
• To gain knowledge and understanding of the worlds’ religions and their ways of life.
• To become aware of one’s own beliefs and values.
• To use discussion in order to support and enhance learning.
• To engage pupils through multi-sensory lessons.
• To ensure all pupils leave Woodlane with a Humanities qualification (in both RE and Geography), which reflects the best of their ability. 

Curriculum Delivery

• Pupils have full access to the Humanities National Curriculum which is differentiated to meet pupils’ learning needs and styles.
• The Humanities curriculum is designed to be challenging, appropriate to each pupil’s stage of development.
• The Humanities curriculum offers opportunities for cross-curricula learning, to ensure pupils make significant personal development, including:
  • Eco days;
  • Maintaining the school garden;
  • Educational visits;
  • SaLT strategies/Word Aware integrated into teaching;
  • Communication development through in-class drama elements and spoken language activities, i.e. formal presentations; and
  • Participation in the London Flower Society competitions to further student’s love of the natural world and enable them to acquire practical life skills centred on gardening.

• The KS3 Humanities curriculum is taught through 2.5 hours (average) contact time per week (10% curriculum time).
• The KS4 Humanities curriculum is taught through 0.83 hours (average) contact time per week (3% curriculum time). 
• If a pupil opts to take History in KS4, they also receive an addition 2.08 hours (average) per week curriculum time, (8% curriculum time).
• The Humanities curriculum is designed to build and expand on previous skills and subject knowledge, over a 5-year period.  It also plans for opportunities for repetition to embed knowledge, increasing the chance of information recall and to integrate new knowledge into larger ideas. 
• We offer a wide range of qualifications in Humanities, which are selected to appropriately challenge, based on each pupil’s stage of development, including:
  • WJEC ( Welsh Board of Education) Diploma
  • WJEC ( Welsh Board of Education) Certificate
  • BTEC in Vocational Studies with an additional practical life skill component of a job interview.
• The school environment is incredibly important to us, we therefore also run an annual Eco Day, where pupils learn about their local environment and how to improve it.   
• We provide additional extra-curricular activities at lunchtime, including:
  • A gardening club for general and targeted land maintenance skills,
  • Homework support club with teacher and TA support.

Teaching and Learning

• Our pupils are taught by subject specialists. 
• Our Humanities Subject Leader is well-qualified, possessing a PGCE in English, English as a Second Language, an MA in English and Methodology and is a specialist dyslexia teacher. 
• The Humanities curriculum is differentiated broadly into 3 levels of challenge, ‘all’, ‘most’ and ‘some’.  Further differentiation and personalisation is implemented when required.
• Humanities homework is provided on a standardised format and is differentiated to provide the appropriate level of challenge.
• In Humanities we have a 3 tiered approach to supporting a pupil’s learning, including:

Universal – this is the teaching your child will receive from the Humanities subject teachers and will include adaptations to match learning needs.  All classes:

• Are supported by a teaching assistant (TA);
• Have a maximum of 12 pupils per class to ensure there is a high level of support available from the teacher and TA;
• Are multi-sensory;
• Are dyslexia friendly;
• Integrate speech, language and communication support; and
• Are supported either directly or indirectly by speech and language therapists;

Targeted­ – it may be appropriate to consider making additional short term special educational provision to remove or reduce any obstacles to your child’s learning.  This takes the form of a graduated four part approach of a) assessing your child’s needs, b) planning the most effective and appropriate intervention, c) providing this intervention and d) reviewing the impact on your child’s progress towards individual learning outcomes.

Interventions may include:

• Specific targeted small group or TA interventions run outside the classroom. These will be limited to a number a weeks to minimise disruption to the regular curriculum;
• One to one specialist, targeted TA support in the classroom; and
• One to one homework support in tutor time.

Specialist – it may be necessary to seek specialist advice and regular long term support from a specialist professional in order to plan for the best possible learning outcomes for your child.

Assessment

• Pupils collate Pupil Achievement Books, where they showcase their best work and progress over time in Humanities.
• Our bespoke Flight Path is used to track the progress of pupils in Humanities and determine expected outcomes from different starting points.
• Humanities teachers use a range of formative and summative assessment procedures to assess progress and attainment, including:
  • Daily marking;
  • Self/peer assessment;
  • Weekly quizzes to check recent knowledge
  • End of unit tests
  • Informal/formal examinations; and
  • B-Squared etc.

• The vast majority of pupils meet or exceed their expected progress in Humanities.
• The vast majority of pupils meet or exceed their expected outcomes in Humanities (external qualifications).
• The vast majority of pupils leave Woodlane with at least one formally recognised Humanities qualification. Many pupils join mainstream colleges/sixth forms at post-16 where they study a range of different qualifications and subjects following excellent progress from their starting points in Humanities.
• Pupils are well-prepared for the next stage of their education.
• Analysis of Humanities outcomes and pupil progress indicates that there is little statistical significance between key groups.  Where any small differences are identified strategies are implemented swiftly.
• Functional skills and life-skills are embedded in the Humanities curriculum and are personalised for each pupil through Vocational Studies and Humanities lessons. These interventions, supported by the SaLT team, improve pupils’ ability to make the step to post-16 provision and improves their understanding of the world of work.

* Please see annual SEF/SIP for further details.