For Choice in Education

Class Three
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Class Five

Class Six
Class Seven

Class Five

The children are in a transition from childhood to puberty, though this is very individual and girls tend to enter puberty before the boys. Some children are still very harmonious and fluid in their movements while others experience changes in their bodies. Many children are often strong willed, self-reliant and creative at this age and their intellect is emerging in ways that enable them to begin to understand more abstract concepts, such as time and space.

Class Five Curriculum Guide

    Child development and leitmotif for this class
    There is much evidence that the earlier onset of puberty leads to significant changes in the child’s relationship to self and body, self and others and self and world. Thus the developmental themes and tasks for classes 4, 5 and 6 have to be taken as an overlapping continuum. This means that children are in a transition from childhood to puberty, though this is very individual and girls tend to enter puberty before the boys. Some children are still very harmonious and fluid in their movements while others experience changes in their bodies. Many children are often strong willed, self-reliant and creative at this age and their intellect is emerging in ways that enable them to begin to understand more abstract concepts, such as time and space.

    Physically they are individually in an optimum state of development (i.e. within their individual limitations), and they therefore need opportunities to explore and practise their agility, freedom of movement, skill and applied intelligence. 

    They should have opportunities to expand their imaginative thinking in a range of spatial and temporal dimensions and their transformations, extend their powers of speech, recitation and dialogue through practice, experience how different cultures express their relationship to spirit and the natural and how the person relates to society, as well as archetypal narratives of individual quests. At this age children’s focus of attention and attachment begins to shift from teachers to peers and friendships assume greater significance. This brings significant changes in the social and communicative processes the child is embedded in,  which can also mean that children can be vulnerable if such relationships are broken or denied and the risk of marginalisation becomes greater.

    Key themes at this age include the transition to abstraction in geometry, complex form drawing, expressive art that does not try to copy nature but give expression to essential qualities, the expressive possibilities of language in poetry and description, other cultures through their myths and pre-modern culture and the transition from myth to history, the world of plants and how they relate to their environments.

     

    Curriculum Themes

    Narrative Themes
    Multicultural mythology

    Musical Themes
    Qualities: 

    • Major key, major and minor modes, some pentatonic (eg Scots)
    • Songs for dancing, songs that carry a strong mood.
    • Any simple timing or compound timing including compound triple.
    • Rhythms for walking, running, skipping.
    • Two part songs and more challenging rounds, solo lines

    Topics: Songs from all around the British Isles. Songs for traditions of these islands. Songs for M/L on India, Persia, Ancient Greece. Songs for class play. Songs about plants/animals.

    Artistic Themes
    Integrating illustration and text, detailed and accurate drawing, beginning shadows

    Painting – layering, receding landscapes

    Modelling human figures

    Materials: coloured pencils, coloured chalks, watercolour paints, clay, Caran d’ache pencils

    Physical Themes
    How to be in the body in ways that free up the mind to engage with new complexities and  abstractions. body geography, throwing and catching, skipping, string games, coordinating  hands and eyes.

     

    Library
    Child of St Kilda, Beth Waters (Child’s Play, 2019)

    Amari and the Night Brothers, B B Alston (Hardie Grant, 2021)

    A Hen in the Wardrobe, Wendy Meddour (Frances Lincoln Children’s Books, 2012)

    A Dangerous Game, Malorie Blackman (Barrington Stoke, 2018)

    Artichoke Hearts, Sita Brahmachari (Macmillan, 2011)

    High Rise Mystery (series), Sharna Jackson (Knights of, 2019)

    Tasunka: A Lakota Horse Legend, Donald F. Montileaux (South Dakota St Historical Society, 2014)

    In Patagonia, Bruce Chatwin

    A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush, Eric Newbye

    Asian Short Stories for Young Readers,  Maley, Alan and Jayakaran Mukundan (eds) (Petaling Jaya: Pearson Malaysia, 2011).

    Werewolf Club Rules, Joseph Coelho (Lincoln)

    Africa, Amazing Africa: Country by Country, Atinuke (Walker Books)

    Ballet Shoes, Noel Streatfeild (Puffin)

    Kensuke’s Kingdom, Michael Morpurgo (Farshore)

    The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien (Harper Collins)

    The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, C S Lewis (Harper Collins)

    The Illustrated Mum, Jacqueline Wilson (Doubleday)

    The Neverending Story, Ralph Manheim (Puffin)

    Varjak Paw, S F Said (David Fickling Books)

    Heroes of Olympus Series, Rick Riordan (Puffin, 2016)

    The Unapdoptables, Hana Tooke and Ayesha L Rubio (Puffin, 2020)

    The Boy Who Made Everyone Laugh, Helen Rutter (Scholastic, 2021)

    The Ship of Shadows, Maria Kuzniar (Puffin, 2020)

    Nation, Terry Pratchett (Puffin)

    Stig of the Dump, Clive King (Puffin)

    The Explorer, Katherine Rundell (Bloomsbury, 2017)

    A Secret of Birds and Bone, Kiran Millwood Hargrave (Chicken House, 2021)

    A House Without Walls, Elizabeth Laird (Macmillan, 2020)

    Illegal: a graphic novel telling one boy’s epic journey, Eoin Colfer (Hodder, 2018)

     

    Visual and Graphic Arts

    Indicative Content
    Drawing 

    (see also Form Drawing themes, and Maths ARLOs for Shape, Space and Measure) 

    In Class 5 children begin to use drawing in two distinct ways. In main lesson books illustrations move from separate full page drawings to being integrated into the writing. This gives opportunities for variety, as well as for creating smaller drawings that take less time. Children should complete the writing first, either drawing at the bottom of the page, or leaving spaces for illustrations to be embedded into the text. The illustrations can come right up to the text, and sometimes even go behind the writing (although pupils may need a reminder to keep shading light so that the writing is not obscured).

    Botany offers the opportunity to develop their abilities of observation and depiction with the creation of more detailed and accurate drawings. After discussing and describing the plant in its environment, the children can be guided to allow the plant to emerge on the paper in stages. The colours chosen for the background aim to express the qualities of the surroundings, e.g. light, warmth, aridity etc.

    The children’s sense of perspective is developing still further, and they are beginning to observe, for example, shadows on one side of an object. Children mostly still need to draw figures from frontal or side profile, but they can transition into shading with coloured pencils, sometimes blending carefully with a finger, and creating shadows on objects to make them look more three dimensional.

    Painting 

    The Class 5 Main Lessons of botany, geography and zoology offer plentiful opportunities to practise layering colours and finding earthy tones. These techniques provide the means by which to create paintings of contrasting climates, atmospheric conditions and animals in their natural habitats.

    The children will also be led to discover how to paint perspective in the form of receding landscapes. 

    Clay Modelling 

    In the plant main lesson, beginning with a sphere or egg-shape, make buds, fruit and other plant forms. These need not be naturalistic; the important thing is to sense a growth movement that forms the unformed material. Human figures – first standing, then sitting. Begin with figures wrapped in a cloak, crib figures etc, where the arms and legs do not have to be articulate. Progress to arms moving away from the body and legs taking a stance.

    Pedagogical Reasoning
    Previous drawing and painting out of an inner feeling for a gesture, or a mental picture created through narrative and description, is supplemented by detailed observation.

    Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation
    Songs, stories and images should be inclusive of a range of people, taking into consideration: gender and family stereotypes, skin and hair colour/type, disability and age. Stories and songs should be taken from a range of cultures around the world. 

    Suggested ARLOs
    Creative and Aesthetic, Science - Living things and their habitats

     

    Handwork: knitting in the round

    Indicative Content
    The world is beautiful: knitting in the round
    Knitting

    • Knit a pair of socks on 4 or 5 needles. The socks should be knitted simultaneously – knit a section (e.g. cuff, heel) on one sock, then repeat on the other. This avoids issues with tension, running out of wool, remembering the technique etc.

    Hand Sewing

    • Materials and techniques relating to the history/geography curriculum
    • Towards the end of the year, it is possible to complete the animal drawings needed to make the pattern for the 3D animal in Class 6.

    Pedagogical Reasoning
    This long term project trains the will by requiring the learner to make two identical socks which consists of learning and then repeating several skills on each sock including turning the heel-- a challenging yet magical step. Watching their socks’ emerging pattern, which is worked in a colour progression to indicate various parts of the sock and its opening, creates a sense of joy in their work and an appreciation of how colours can harmonise. Along the way, children will experience and often recognize how maths can help them check the accuracy of their work.

    Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation
    Consider the provenance of items in museums and collections.

    Sock from Ancient Egypt in the National Museum of Scotland “Lost Sock Blog: May 7, 2020, https://blog.nms.ac.uk/2020/05/07/the-lost-sock/

    Consider including textiles and embroidery from e.g. Mesopotamia, China, Egypt, Central America, Polynesia. Be very aware of the spiritual significance of different colours, stitches and textiles for different cultures.

    Suggested ARLOs
    Creative and Aesthetic, Handwork

     

    Narrative and Reading Material 

    Indicative Content
    Reading for pleasure:

    • Children’s literature on the curriculum themes for the year: multicultural mythology; stories which explores the British Isles; stories set in ancient/historic cultures
    • Children’s non-fiction on the curriculum themes of the year: books on local/regional plants (e.g. ID and spotters guides (e.g. Usborne), forager’s guides);
    • Good quality illustrated guides: National Geographic photo books, book versions of David Attenborough series’ etc. 
    • Books of the British Isles with glossy interesting photographs and informative text, e.g physical geography, town/county guides, national park guides. 

    Taught Reading Skills:

    Writing book reports and recommendations: summarising, explaining why they have enjoyed what they have read.

    Pedagogical Reasoning
    Extensive reading should become part of the class culture. The class library should have a range of fiction and non-fiction books suitable to the curriculum themes of the year. Books should be accessible, i.e. written at an appropriate level, and in a range of formats and genres. Children should learn how to use books as a valuable source of information and learning.

    Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation
    Stories from around the world with a range of inclusive themes and characters. Stories that challenge gender and family stereotypes.

    Suggested ARLOs
    Literacy, Social Science, Science and Technology, Geography

     

    Cities and Nomads: From Myth to History

    Indicative Content
    To explore the transition from myth to history via the invention of symbolic representation (writing) e.g. through themes from Mesopotamia, China, Egypt, Central America, Megalithic and Bronze Age cultures or Polynesian cultures. To describe the economy and culture of a range of early complex societies through their mythology: settled and nomadic cultures; the development of agriculture; the specialisation of professions; and hierarchical structures and societies.

    Pedagogical Reasoning
    Understanding early complex cultures through their mythology, and how their mythology reflects their relationship to their physical and spiritual environment. Myths, art and artefacts offer expressions of the consciousness of the people in those times and cultures and the diversity of the environments is reflected in the diversity of cultural responses. 

    For example, early agrarian complex societies were in a very precarious relationship with their environment. These societies were stabilised by religious rites, shared traditions, shared narratives etc. These aspects were in turn shaped by the physical and social environments, including the tensions between urban communities and nomads. 

    Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation
    These explorations of early societies form the basis for understanding diversity of culture but also the processes of colonisation and subjectification. It is important not to present a one-sided, technology driven or Euro-centric view of progress and to explore the idea that most early urban civilizations were based on social stratification, slavery, war and centralized authority. Non-urban civilizations (Neolithic, Polynesian, Steppe people, Native Americans) should be part of the story.

    Suggested ARLOs
    Literacy, Social Science, Geography, Aesthetic and Creative

     

    Use of language: accuracy, nuance, subtlety and complexity.

    Indicative Content
    Active and passive, direct and indirect speech.

    Simple and continuous in all forms (e.g. including question form) 

    Prepositions of time.

    Pedagogical Reasoning
    Moving from competence to develop a feeling for more accurate language structures and means of expression. Cultivating a sensitivity through language to relationships, and how relationships can be expressed through language. Understanding the many ways in which language signifies what is relevant and important. 

    Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation
    Consider the importance of accepting vernacular and dialect (both regional and ethnic)English (contractions, idioms, slang, phrasal verbs etc). Promote an understanding that there are many Englishes, all equally valid in context, and that only written English has a standard form. Ensure example sentences feature a range of people and challenge stereotypes  (e.g. conscious choice of gendered pronouns).

    Suggested ARLOs
    Literacy

     

    Maths: rules and methods

    Indicative Content
    The maths main lessons build on to and bring together maths learning from arithmetic and form drawing. The lessons establish that there are rules and methods of calculation, and that appropriate technical terminology should be used. Steiner insisted that only the rules and the methods of calculation should be entered into children’s ‘rule books’, not their worked examples.

    Content should be woven together in a healthy balance of activities. 

    Fluency in arithmetic:

    • Constant practise in mental arithmetic - using the four rules
    • Calculations using fractions
    • Calculations using decimal fractions/decimals
    • Formal written methods for long form multiplication and division
    • Multiplication and division of fractions
    • Averages and percentages can be introduced. 

    Freehand geometry:

    • Understanding the regularity of how shapes relate in space.
    • Freehand drawing of triangles, squares, circles.  
    • Dividing drawn circles, making patterns. 
    • Introduction of set square, ruler and compass
    • Constructing circles, squares, hexagons, rhombus, parallelogram etc and perpendicular lines 
    • Decimal measurements, including digital time, 24 hour clock,  decimal money, length, volume, weight etc.
    • Theorem of Pythagoras is introduced pictorially and this introduction can be seen as a bridge, or a gateway into individual, investigative exploration of mathematical theorems. 

    Pedagogical Reasoning
    Class 5 is a bridging year between the concrete, arithmetic maths of Classes 1-4 and the abstractions and formulae of Class 6 onwards. 

    Out of the body’s relationship with space, they embody the rules. An eye-hand coordination sense of symmetry and balance.  Mental mobility in the imagination of space. 

    Children are now applying laws not only to divide the whole but to construct abstract shapes - going from a practical, judged feeling of whether something is ‘square’, ‘triangular’ or ‘round’ to the abstract idea of shapes. Increasing step of abstraction. Cultivating exact spatial imagination. Introducing lawfulness in thinking about shape and space.

    Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation
    A historical context should be given to the development of decimal measurement in particular. For example:

    • The medieval Islamic scholar al-Uqlidisi who introduced decimal fractions in a book written in 952. 
    • The systematic development of decimal fractions in the book Miftah al-Hisab written in 1427 by Al-Kashi.
    • The biography of Simon Stevin, 1548-1620, the Flemish military engineer and mathematician who promoted the idea of internationally useful decimal weights, measures and currency. 

    Ensure that representations of people are inclusive.

    Suggested ARLOs
    Maths (Shape, Space and Measure), Visual and Graphic Art (form drawing)

     

    Dynamic Drawing: Plant forms and metamorphoses

    Indicative Content
    Plant forms (e.g. fire cone patterns, leaf, tree branch, roots systems) and metamorphosis. Freehand geometric forms and fractals overlap with geometric construction using compass and ruler. The ancient cultures provide a rich field of ornamentation and patterns, also Islamic patterns.

    Pedagogical Reasoning
    Linearity is an archetypal quality as old as humanity related to orality, expressing directional movement in space and time. Walking, talking (storylines, songlines) and drawing are all linear. Children need the opportunity for free linear drawing, rather than drawing from observation or imagination because the dynamic movements are embodied and not yet filled with mental content. Form drawing or dynamic drawing is an activity that transforms bodily movement in space into inner movement in ways that transposes the external orientation into inner orientation, weaving the three dimensions (up/down, right/left and behind /in front) into a dynamic relationship between point and periphery, centre and circumference. It is a creative process, free hand requiring control and sense of proportion that builds on archetypal forms, point, line, surface and volume. In dynamic drawing, children learn to give matter form in creative ways.

    Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation
    Patterns from a wide range of cultures can be used. 

    Suggested ARLOs
    Maths, Visual and Graphic Art (Drawing)

     

    Modern Foreign Languages - Developing Literacy

    Indicative Content
    A varied balance of oral work, extensive reading, and writing creatively around a selected topic. Grammar work. Short plays.

    Pedagogical Reasoning
    Children of this age have a strong rhythmical memory, and are capable of learning much. Enjoyment of the language is essential, and to build on this the children’s own creative imagination should be called into play wherever possible.  Children can now relate people who speak other languages with specific places and have an initial sense of relationship between language, culture and lifestyle (boulanger/baguette/croissant, coiffeur/la mode) and geography at least in an archetypal sense (French people and Paris, Brittany fisherfolk- crepes, Moule de Normandie).

    Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation
    Songs, stories, texts and pictures should represent a wide range of people, skin colours, hair types etc, and should not reinforce stereotypes.

    Suggested ARLOs
    Modern Foreign Languages

     

    Sustainable Living: Local geography and ecology

    Indicative Content
    The home base now becomes an indoor workshop and an introduction to the school garden, whilst time outside is spent exploring further afield. In the workshop a range of options are provided to develop specific manual skills and formal green wood techniques become an extension and reorientation of previous simple whittling, through the making of simple items without concave or convex forms. Gardening is begun through the collection, drying and packaging of seed from garden plants, followed by raising plants from seed in pots and planters. This should emphasise the plant and insect world (leaving the heavier work of the preparation of soil and compost to Class 6). Bees and their hives can be introduced.  Children learn to identify the trees within the school grounds by their leaves, bark, twigs, seeds, fruits and flowers. Trees can also be grown and planted locally.

    Physical exploration of local geography takes the form of long (up to 8-10km per day) walks across the county, where children can experience different biomes, soils, crops, habitats and wild spaces. These walks are not outdoor pursuits, but rather a way of gaining concrete experience of changes of landscape. They should be alternated with time on the school grounds, with the children being given the opportunity to recall and reflect on what they have observed. Maps can be made of the landscapes that have been explored, often preceded by the construction of very basic 3D models, for example digging clay to model with and/or using bricks or stones to represent buildings etc.

    From Class 4 onwards, one or more additional crafts can be added to the curriculum. The craft chosen and the level at which it is engaged with will be dependent on the practical skills of the teacher, and the prior learning of the children. Some suggested themes might be basic blacksmithing, or ceramics.

    Pedagogical Reasoning
    The children’s intellect is emerging in ways that enable them to begin to understand more abstract concepts, and this is mirrored in a challenge to think about the environment in a different way. The move to the workshop and garden prepares them for the shift to a focus on craft and gardening in the middle school.

    Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation
    Cross-referencing with history/geography to show how different cultures engage with their environments. Creation myths from several cultures, and how these reflect the physical environment. Tool use and artefacts and trade in important raw materials like metals, timber. Cultures that were ecologically sustainable in antiquity and those who were not (e.g. Ancient Greeks deforestation).

    Suggested ARLOs
    Science and Technology, Geography, Social Science

     

    The Living, Growing Earth

    Indicative Content
    Developing an observation-based study of flowering plants in their environment and their connection to the animal world.

    Plant morphology, with equal emphasis on beauty as structure. The naming of familiar local plants, from damp, shady nooks to hedgerows and trees.

    Following the processes of transformation from seed to flower and fruit.

    The diversity of the plant covering of the entire earth from equator to poles and lowlands to mountain peaks.  Plants in relation to sun, air, soil and water. Plants in their relationship to landscape, climate and the animal world (eg insects).

    Plants and their uses.

    The importance of biodiversity and the effects of climate change.

    Pedagogical Reasoning
    The sentient nature of the animal world in Class 4, is appealing and engaging to the child. The plant world, although it is less emotionally immediate, is more closely aligned with an ecological context, and is in an intermediate position between the earth and the atmosphere.

    The children’s burgeoning intellectual capacities can meet the complexity and detail of plant life, including transformation over time and processes of reproduction.

    Increased self-consciousness at this age, can find some refuge in the quiet beauty of the plant world, along with the affirmation that importance does not lie in outer sensational activity, but more often in silent, hidden persistence.

    Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation
    There should be a focus on the local environment as context, and an understanding of the relationship of native and exotic plants and the benefits and challenges that these bring.

    Plants and their uses in other cultures; plants and their products from other places; fair trade, monoculture, food miles and sustainability.

    Suggested ARLOs
    Science and Technology

     

    Zoology: groups and families

    Indicative Content
    Developing imaginative visualisation of contrasting groups of animals (e.g. birds, carnivores and herbivores) in their habitats.

    Descriptive accounts of a number of groups of animals, their habitats and unique behavioural characteristics. Contrasting types within the group are studied, (e.g. songbirds, waterbirds and birds of prey; bears, cats and wolves) with a focus on their specialisms, feeding habits and how they raise their young. 

    Pedagogical Reasoning
    To cultivate the powers of analytical thinking, in identifying types and holistic thinking in terms of animals in their environments and relationships.

    Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation
    Taking a global perspective:

    Disappearing environments. Impact of tourism on wildlife, including wildlife and ecological tourism. Protection of rare species. The complexities of land use by humans and animals.

    Suggested ARLOs
    Science and Technology

     

    Human Societies in their Environments

    Indicative Content
    From the local area the radius expands to the next larger physical and political context and the connection between the locality and the region or country as a whole (e.g. the British Isles). Major physical features, hills, plains, rivers, coastline, islands. Major regions (Midlands, Highlands, the Peak District, the North East). Major land use in the different regions and how these were traditionally linked, urban- countryside, uplands , lowlands, ports and hinterland and overseas, main natural resources. Understand the historical connection between geography and economics (the contemporary post-industrial economy will be covered in Class 8)

    Transition from making maps to reading maps of different scales, from maps of the country to ~1:25 000, e.g. from a map of the whole British Isles to maps showing footpaths and contour lines. Relief maps.

    The water cycle – precipitation, springs, mountain streams, valleys and river systems, lakes, estuaries and deltas, seas and oceans, evaporation, condensation etc.

    Pedagogical Reasoning
    The development of spatial awareness beyond what can be seen and the connections between the visible and invisible in nature, in physical features (rivers systems and their cycles, seas, lakes, hills, and what lies beneath the surface, different soil types and the plants that grow there). Expansion of awareness of temporal dimensions (seasons, climate, resources from past, tides) and their relationships expand the pupils’ awareness of process over time and space. Notions of economic and cultural co-dependencies (urban and rural) reveal a consciousness of connectedness. 

    Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation
    No island is an island...

    Ensure that a range of communities and cultures are included, plus migration.

    Suggested ARLOs
    Geography, Social Science, Literacy, Visual and Graphic Art

     

    Media Education 

    Indicative Content
    Children should practise using books for research, navigating book collections and libraries. They should use this research in small projects, drawing on their growing literacy skills and showing their work in regular small presentations. Singing is still a regular and important part of the school day, and instrumental music is highly valued. Children take their first steps in the study of music as an academic subject, recognising some of its natural laws and conventions. Precise and accurate drawing is further developed as a skill in, for example, in the botany main lesson, and different media forms such as flip books and shadow theatres may be introduced. Through discussion of the characters in books and stories, children understand that people can disguise themselves, and trick others into believing things that are not true. Children are encouraged to talk about things that might make people (including themselves) feel sad, worried, uncomfortable or frightened. They discuss bullying, and how people’s perceptions of playful joking and teasing might differ. Children know how to report bullying both in and out of school, and talk about how to respond to peer pressure.

    Teachers can begin to model the appropriate use of commonplace media technology in the school environment, where children are not yet allowed this use, e.g. entering information into a classroom computer, taking photographs of children’s work etc.

    Pedagogical Reasoning
    Analogue processes help children understand things in the truest sense of the word. Once they are acquainted with analogue technologies and their potentials, the basis is created for them to be able to judge how and when digital techniques can be used sensibly, based on their own experience. Mastering the medium of writing forms the basis of all media competence. Reading is the basic and key qualification that develops and promotes media competence in general. The ability to present content in an effective and independent way requires the ability to research knowledge in analogue as well as digital formats. Understanding the construction of images and music, and how basic media carriers (e.g. paper, pens) are produced, provides children with a basis for later judgement(s) of media. Learning a challenging solo instrument helps children to develop the widest possible range of productive musical skills and benefit from practical experience. Alongside this practical competence is a focus on the development of dispositions and social and emotional skills which support children to later develop self control and regulate their use of media, and to treat people in the digital realm with respect and understanding. This can be followed through the PSHE/RSE curriculum, and the development of imagination and empathy as enhanced capacities through long term curriculum intent.   In modern life, regardless of a school’s policy on media use at home, children will have direct and indirect exposure to media through family and friends. Potentially disturbing or dangerous content, or even seemingly harmless images leave an impression on the young child. Children need to be confident that they have safe spaces in which to discuss their feelings about whatever they may have seen or been exposed to. In a world where technology is commonplace and deeply embedded into the lives of adults, children need to begin to see their teachers work with it effectively. Where parents have chosen to allow children to access technology, children  need to feel safe enough to discuss their online activities in the presence of teachers, without fear of judgement.

    Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation
    Songs, stories and images should be inclusive of a range of people, taking into consideration: gender and family stereotypes, skin and hair colour/type, disability and age. Stories and songs should be taken from a range of cultures around the world.

    Suggested ARLOs
    Technology, RSE, PSHE

     

    Spiritual, religious, ethical and moral education 

    Indicative Content
    A sense of the evolution of human consciousness through the study of ancient civilisations. A growing awareness of the wider world.  Making the transition from myth to history and its emphasis on the individual.

    A study of Buddhism, Hinduism (and Zoroastrianism) in terms of stories, festivals, traditions, beliefs and practices – and experiences of Greek philosophy, democracy and Socratic scepticisms.

    Hindi festivals: Diwali, Holi, Onam. Buddhist festivals: Magha Puja, Wesak, Prinirvana.

    PSHE-Citizenship: Greek history features the emergence of democracy and the city state as a new form of government.

    Questions: Do we have a destiny as opposed to chance? Are we like we are because of our parents or what lies within us? Why do some people think they have been here before?

    Pedagogical Reasoning
    A pivotal point between childhood and puberty, the end of the first part of school years. The ability to look back and to plan the future combined with deepening feeling, allows for the emergence of conscience and responsibility. Pupils are intellectually and morally ready for new challenges and can grasp an understanding of right and wrong in a reasoning spirit.

    Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation
    In Main Lessons and subject lessons, there can be a reliance on one author or source – e.g. Kovacs. Contemporary materials should be used - research the civilisations widely and through the lens of diversity, bringing protagonists and events that represent people of diverse gender, sex, sexuality, religion and ethnicity. Make any study of specific religions current, relevant and focused on human experience.

    Suggested ARLOs
    SMSC

    Under development!

    Physical Education

    Indicative Content
    The class

    Pedagogical Reasoning

    Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation
    All

    Suggested ARLOs
    Physical

     

    Music

    Indicative Content
    In Class Five the first orchestra is properly established. From class 5 upwards, orchestras, recorder ensembles, aural work, music theory and history are included in the music curriculum. Treble and tenor recorders are also introduced to the ensemble, particularly for those children who do not have an instrument which they are learning out of school hours. We still work within the context of the season and there is also an emphasis on British folk tunes, in line with the class 5 curriculum. Music in the time of Ancient India and Greece is included in the curriculum, in conjunction with these main lessons.

    Pedagogical Reasoning

    Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation
    All songs, stories and images should be inclusive of a range of people, taking into  consideration: gender and family stereotypes, skin and hair colour/type, disability and age. Stories and music should be taken from a range of cultures around the world.

    Suggested ARLOs
    Creative and Aesthetic, Technology

     

    Eurythmy

    Indicative Content
    In class 5, the children experience themselves standing between the inner world that they are discovering and the outer world in which they live. The aim of eurythmy is to bring balance to this phase of development. As a link to history lessons, with the study of ancient India, Persia, Egypt, Babylon and Greece, texts and rhythms from these ancient cultures are used in the eurythmy lessons. The mood of these cultural epochs are taken up and explored through its characteristic forms of movement and gestures. The class 5 children get a rich experience of the progression of humanity and this process mirrors the process of development of the 11-year old child. 

    With the study of Botany, the wondrous world of myriad varieties of natural forms, are brought before the children. Form and the metamorphoses of these forms are experienced spatially: the class recognizes the principle of change and metamorphosis in the basic forms they are walking. The laws of the plant world become a profound experience for the whole being of the child as the acute observation of the eye and the intellect penetrate the feeling realm in an appreciation of the plant world. 

    The geometry of the human form is consciously discovered and experienced in the five-pointed star by walking it with a frontal orientation.

    Two-part melodies are practised in music eurythmy.

    • Continuation of concentration and dexterity exercises
    • Fine and gross motor exercises with rods
    • Exploration of forms (geometrical forms)
    • Grammatical forms  (continued from class 4)
    • Forms practised with frontal orientation
    • Ancient cultures: explored through music, gesture, form and movement
    • Clap/step all rhythms- especially Greek rhythms
    • Three fold/measured walking
    • C-major and other major scales
    • Intervals
    • Two-part melodies and rounds
    • Pitch

    Pedagogical Reasoning

    Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation
    Music, stories and images should be inclusive of a range of people, taking into consideration: gender and family stereotypes, skin and hair colour/type, disability and age. Stories and music should be taken from a range of cultures around the world.

    Suggested ARLOs
    Physical Education, Creative and Aesthetic

    Based on Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship® Ltd indicative curriculum for Steiner Waldorf Schools, The Art of Teaching