The four areas of the entitlement school curriculum at the primary phase of education are identical to that of the secondary stage in all but one regard.
At Key Stage 2 Citizenship is not a statutory subject with prescribed subject content as it is at Key Stages 3 and 4. However, the National Curriculum is the minimum entitlement for children and young people and:
Schools are also free to include other subjects and topics of their choice in planning and designing their own programme of education. (The School Curriculum in England page 5).
For schools looking to establish a ‘personalised’ and local curriculum and associated ethos, UNA-ID provides a rich breadth of relevant topics to integrate into individualised programmes of learning.
The chart provides an overview of how the resource contributes to delivering the subject content of statutory curriculum disciplines at Key Stage 2 outlined below.
Primary schools also have unique PSHE programmes that they devise themselves and follow the local SACRE agreed RE syllabus. Since there is no national and statutory subject content for these two areas, UNA-UK's education experts have used their judgement to highlight in chart which International Days are most likely to contribute to existing PSHE and RE programmes, as well as new areas of these programmes that teachers may wish to incorporate.
Design and Technology
Pupils should be taught to:
- Understand and apply the principles of nutrition and a healthy and valued diet.
Geography
Pupils should be taught to:
- Identify the position and significance of the world’s continents and oceans, latitude, longitude, Equator, Northern Hemisphere, Southern Hemisphere, the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, Arctic and Antarctic Circle, the Prime/Greenwich Meridian and time zones (including day and night);
- Describe and understand key aspects of physical geography including the water cycle;
- Describe and explain key aspects of human geography including the distribution of natural resources including food and water;
- Use maps, atlases, globes and digital/computer mapping to locate countries and describe features studied;
- Use fieldwork to observe, measure, record and present the human and physical features in the local area including the school grounds.
Language and literacy
All of the UNA-ID learning activities provide meaningful, relevant and motivating contexts for developing spoken language, reading, writing and vocabulary in line with National Curriculum guidelines for incorporating literacy across the curriculum. This is reflected in the chart.
Guidelines
Teachers should develop pupils’ spoken language, reading, writing and vocabulary as integral aspects of the teaching of every subject. English is both a subject in its own right and the medium for teaching; for pupils, understanding the language provides access to the whole curriculum. Fluency in the English language is an essential foundation for success in all subjects.
Spoken language
Pupils should be taught to speak clearly and convey ideas confidently using Standard English. They should learn to justify ideas with reasons; ask questions to check understanding; develop vocabulary and build knowledge; negotiate; evaluate and build on the ideas of others; and select the appropriate register for effective communication.
They should be taught to give well-structured descriptions and explanations and develop their understanding through speculating, hypothesising and exploring ideas. This will enable them to clarify their thinking as well as organise their ideas for writing.
Reading and writing
Teachers should develop pupils’ reading and writing in all subjects to support their acquisition of knowledge. Pupils should be taught to read fluently, understand extended prose (both fiction and non-fiction) and be encouraged to read for pleasure.
Schools should do everything to promote wider reading. They should provide library facilities and set ambitious expectations for reading at home.
Pupils should develop the stamina and skills to write at length, with accurate spelling and punctuation. They should be taught the correct use of grammar. They should build on what they have been taught to expand the range of their writing and the variety of the grammar they use. The writing they do should include narratives, explanations, descriptions, comparisons, summaries and evaluations: such writing supports them in rehearsing, understanding and consolidating what they have heard or read.
Vocabulary development
Pupils’ acquisition and command of vocabulary are key to their learning and progress across the whole curriculum. Teachers should therefore develop vocabulary actively, building systematically on pupils’ current knowledge. They should increase pupils’ store of words in general; simultaneously, they should also make links between known and new vocabulary and discuss the shades of meaning in similar words. In this way, pupils expand the vocabulary choices that are available to them when they write.
In addition, it is vital for pupils’ comprehension that they understand the meanings of words they meet in their reading across all subjects, and older pupils should be taught the meaning of instruction verbs that they may meet in examination questions. It is particularly important to induct pupils into the language which defines each subject in its own right, such as accurate mathematical and scientific language.
Languages
Teaching should enable pupils to understand and communicate ideas, facts and feelings in speech and writing, focused on familiar and routine matters, using their knowledge of phonology, grammatical structures and vocabulary.
Pupils should be taught to:
- Describe people, places, things, actions orally.
Mathematics
Statistics
Pupils should be taught to:
- Interpret and construct pie charts and line graphs and use these to solve problems;
- Calculate and interpret the mean as an average.
Science
Working scientifically
Teachers should feel free to choose examples that serve a variety of purposes, from showing how scientific ideas have developed historically to reflecting modern developments in science. This will include understanding the uses and implications of science today and in the future.
Pupils should be taught to:
- Recognise that environments can change and that this can sometimes pose dangers to living things;
- Identify scientific evidence that has been used to support or refute ideas or arguments;
- Recognise the impact of diet, exercise, drugs and lifestyle on the way their bodies function.