Opening Worlds (Geography, History and RE) Year 3, Year 4 and Year 5

Curriculum Rationale

At Woodlands Park Primary, we follow the Opening Worlds curriculum for Geography, History and RE for Year 3 to Year 5 pupils. In 2024-25, we will be introducing this to Year 1, Year 2 and Year 6. Currently, these year groups follow our Woodlands Park designed curriculum which promises the highest quality learning.

In 2023-24, all Year 3, Year 4 and Year 5 pupils are following the same Opening Worlds curriculum schemes of work. This is because Opening Worlds is a curriculum which is carefully sequenced and as it entwines so much high quality vocabulary and knowledge, pupils need to have the previous learning to be successful. Each Geography, History and RE sessions lasts 60 minutes and each subject is taught each week. This curriculum ensures that clear links are made between each of the three subjects and that the knowledge and skills learned are thoughtfully retrieved in each session.

https://youtu.be/WXJ99ZR99Gk Year 3 History

https://youtu.be/1lLOmjv96oQ Year 3 Geography

Opening Worlds is rapidly becoming known for the following distinctive features:

Thoroughness in knowledge-building, achieved through intricate coherence and tight sequencing;
Global and cultural breadth, embracing wide diversity across ethnicity, gender, region and community;
Rapid impact on literacy through systematic introduction and revisiting of new vocabulary;
Subject-specific disciplinary rigour, teaching pupils to interpret and argue, to advance and weigh claims, and to understand the distinctive ways in which subject traditions enquire and seek truth;
Well-told stories: beautifully written narratives and the nurture of teachers’ own story-telling art;
A highly inclusive approach, secured partly through common knowledge (giving access to common language) and partly through thorough high-leverage teaching that is pacey, oral, interactive and fun;
Efficient use of lesson time, blending sharp pace, sustained practice and structured reflection;
Rapid improvement of teachers’ teaching through systematic training in the Opening Worlds evidence-informed, high-leverage techniques.

Perhaps the most noticeable impact is that pupils can access the rich, extended text in the booklets because all new vocabulary is pre-taught and practised through blends of direct instruction, engaging story-telling and other activities. An outline of the humanities curriculum is available on the Opening Worlds website: https://openingworlds.uk/

Please see the information below for a thorough curriculum overview and plan of progression.