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Class Six

The children are physically stronger and can apply this to real bodily work in the garden or crafts or moving furniture. Their intellect is usually fully awakened, which makes them capable of thinking causally and logically, as well as seeing fault and weaknesses in logic. This capacity is often not matched by self-awareness and this can be socially poisonous. Their intelligence needs to be applied meaningfully to practical problem solving, conceptual tasks, and understanding cause and effect in the material and cultural worlds.

Class Six Curriculum Guide

    Child development and leitmotif for this class
    Puberty brings many changes to the young person’s relationship to her body, to other people and to the world, most of which are liberating and without problems. At this age youngsters can be highly capable, fun, lively, loud, curious, imaginative, brave and in a way both ‘grown-up’ and yet unburdened by the world’s problems. Physical growth and body change in endless individual variation is the norm, with girls usually being ahead of the boys in this respect. The children are physically stronger and can apply this to real bodily work in the garden or crafts or moving furniture. Their intellect is usually fully awakened, which makes them capable of thinking causally and logically, as well as seeing fault and weaknesses in logic. This capacity is often not matched by self-awareness and this can be socially poisonous. Their intelligence needs to be applied meaningfully to practical problem solving, conceptual tasks, and understanding cause and effect in the material and cultural worlds.

    In contrast to their outer behaviour quite a few young people also begin to develop private and intimate experiences through close relationships, diary writing, hobbies (involving relationships with animals). pupils need age and developmentally appropriate tasks- they are no longer children- particularly in all technical fields ranging from tool use, to science and the techniques of literacy. They also need to learn social ‘techniques’ such as non-violent communication, conflict avoidance and resolution, health and well-being issues (e.g. food, body care, sexuality). The acceleration of puberty combined with models of sexuality in the media and access to social and digital media can be problematic when their use is not accompanied by understanding. Meeting the varied needs of a group of class 6 pupils is a considerable challenge best met by a team of teachers.

    Key themes include physical work (e.g. digging and wood cutting in gardening and outdoor curriculum), use of tools and the history of technology (e.g. ship building, road building, building large structures like temples and bridges), historical intercultural exchange and trade (e.g. Silk Roads and global Middle Ages) and urban and non-urban empires, equations and formula and applying these to solving problems, using different text types (tools for the job), making accurate observations in science and applying these in art (e.g. shadows and optical phenomena), plants and animals in their environments, geology and shapes of landscapes and their relationship to human activity (e.g. agriculture, mining, transport).

     

    Curriculum Themes

    Narrative Themes
    Historical fiction and biographies.

    Musical Themes
    Qualities: 

    • Major and Minor, Modern minor key with #7th, Phrygian modes.
    • Some harder rounds.
    • Drones, crooked drones and clashing notes.
    • Two, or even three part songs, depending on ability.
    • 7/8, Balkan 9/8

    Topics: Songs from all over Europe. Songs about ancient Rome. Marches. Songs for class play. Songs from Middle Ages (incl. drones)

    Artistic Themes
    Drawing – grayscale, special illusions, creating depth through shading, colour theory in drawing/painting

    Painting – veil painting, lightening and darkening colours with black/white

    Modelling landscapes, groups of human figures

    Materials: watercolour paints and inks, clay, Caran d’ache pencils, charcoal sticks/pencils, graphite pencils, gouache

    Physical Themes
    ?

     

    Library
    Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls: 100 Immigrant Women who Changed the World, Elena Favili (Rebel Girls, 2020)

    Magnus Chase and the Sword of Summer (Book 1) (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard Series), Rick Riordan (Puffin, 2015)

    Erik the Viking - Terry Jones

    Viking Raiders (Time Traveller), Anne Civardi (Usborne, 1998)

    Little Badman (series), Humza Arshad (Puffin, 2019)

    You Must be Layla, Yassmin Abdel-Magied (Puffin, 2020)

    Viking Voyagers, Jack Tite (Big Picture Press, 2021)

    The Water Margin: Outlaws of the Marsh, Shi Naian (Tuttle, 2010)

    Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, Pu Songling (Penguin Classics, 2006)

    The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series, Michelle Paver (Orion Children’s Books, 2011)

    Redwall series, Brian Jacques

    How to Train Your Dragon series, Cressida Cowell

    The Wolves of Willoughby Chase series, Joan Aiken

    George, Alex Gino (Scholastic)

    Skellig, David Almond (Hodder Children’s Books)

    A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula Le Guin (Puffin)

    Wonder,  R J Palacio (Penguin Random House Children’s)

    Peace Maker, Malorie Blackman (Barrington Stoke)

    Bird, Zetta Elliot (Lee and Low Books, 2017)

    The Northern Lights (His Dark Materials trilogy), Philip Pullman (Scholastic, 2011)

    Northern Lights – The Graphic Novel, Stephane Melchior and Clement Oubrerie (Puffin)

    The Hatmakers, Tamzin Merchant (Puffin)

    Murder Most Unladylike, Robin Stevens (Puffin, 2014)

    Swan Song, Gill Lewis (Barrington Stoke, 2021)

    Scavengers, Darren Simpson (Usborne, 2019)

     

     

    Visual and Graphic Arts

    Indicative Content
    Drawing 

    From Class Six illustration continues in the main lesson books but art also becomes a subject lesson in its own right. The emphasis is on the drawing of objects through the creation of spatial illusions, firstly in grayscale using pencils and/or charcoal. Beginning with the creation of a sphere which emerges from the shading of the background in different directions, ovals and half moons to create the spatial form of a bowl, and other shading exercises such as drawing the folds in cloth and experimenting with negative space, pupils work towards drawing objects of any shape and still life compositions. Landscapes can be created through staggered, receding horizons, using shading to bring forms forward. 

    Towards the end of the year it is enjoyable for pupils to explore some colour theory through drawing with coloured crayons and pencils again, and even to mix drawing and painting, for example painting into a drawn outline with gouache, using Aquarelle watercolour pencils.

    Painting 

    In Class Six the pupils' attention will be more consciously drawn to an objective observation of the phenomena of the world around them. This will take the form of direct experience via the Main Lessons in Physics and Geology. The topics of light and mineralogy lend themselves particularly well to working with a new painting technique, veil painting.

    Up until this point, the pupils have worked predominantly with the ‘wet on wet’ technique (diluted watercolours are applied on damp, stretched paper, singly merging and gently overlaid). Now, the pupils will learn to stretch the damp paper, secure it to the board and allow it to dry thoroughly before applying paint. Paint is applied in almost transparent layers. Each layer is completely dry before another layer is applied. Each layer shines visibly through the subsequent top layer, hence the term ‘veil painting’.

    When painting with different media, e.g. gouache as above, pupils should learn how to darken and lighten a shade through the addition of black or white.  

    Clay Modelling 

    In connection with the geography main lesson, mould the shapes of various types of mountain: granite, chalk and sharp contoured shapes. Caves and waterfalls with boulders can be modelled. Work with figures can develop to include groups – parent and child, farmer and horse etc – keeping the detail of faces, hands, feet, clothing etc to a minimum.

    Pedagogical Reasoning
    In Class 6 art runs parallel to physics, where pupils are looking at the phenomena of light and shadow, observing accurately and drawing what they see. Drawing is more illustrative, e.g. buildings, viaducts, ships etc. There is more detail, and more information and examples are needed.

    In ‘wet on wet’, the student sought to find an image emerging from the interplay of colours upon the damp page. With the veil technique, the student will be required to engage in forethought when creating layers. A conscious activity is necessary to place required layers which will ultimately form an image of particular atmosphere/weather conditions, crystals, trees throughout the changing seasons.

    Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation
    Show examples of Chinese landscape painting.

    Images should be inclusive of a range of people, taking into consideration: gender and family stereotypes, skin and hair colour/type, disability and age.

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

     

    Handwork: sewing in three dimensions

    Indicative Content
    Hand Sewing

    • Make a 3-D sewn animal (mammal) from their self-drafted pattern.

    Extension Project

    • Make a soft doll.

    Pedagogical Reasoning
    As they sew, the pupils’ feeling life (sense of caring for others) grows and a connection grows between the child and the animal they are carefully forming (ensouling). Moral impulses are strengthened as they develop their sense of what is good (through observation of the many traits of the animal world). Children develop a realistic sense of the time it takes to create an object and their will forces are strengthened through completing this multi-layered process.

    Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation
    Consider the animals we are familiar with from far away lands and the culture of the people who live there.

    Suggested ARLOs
    Creative and Aesthetic, Handwork

     

    Narrative and Reading Material 

    Indicative Content
    Encourage book use rather than screen time
    Reading for pleasure:

    • Children’s historical fiction (e.g. Rosemary Sutcliff) from Roman to early Middle Ages
    • Children’s historical biographies from Roman to early Middle Ages, biographies of travellers of the time and similar, e.g. ‘The Brendan Voyage’. 
    • Children’s history books: from Rome to the early Middle Ages
    • Picture and geographical books on different regions of Europe which give images of landscapes, coastlines, mountains, islands, cities and cultures. E.g. The Alps, Norwegian Fjords, Balkan mountains and coastlines, Polish forests, Paris, Venice, Barcelona, Budapest etc etc
    • Gardening books: organic gardening (e.g. John and Sally Seymour), books by the Soil Association, Gardeners’ Question Time books
    • Children’s non-fiction on other curriculum themes:  geology, combustion, acoustics

    Taught Reading Skills:

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

    Pedagogical Reasoning
    Further development of historical consciousness, with an explicit multi-cultural and global perspective. 

    Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation
    Further development of historical consciousness, with an explicit multi-cultural and global perspective. 

    Suggested ARLOs
    Literacy, Geography, History, Creative and Aesthetic

     

    The transition to the global middle ages: Kingdoms, Republics and Empires; Towns, Guilds and Cathedrals

    Indicative Content
    To explore the history of early empires, for example the Romans and the Celtic tribes (Brigantes, Druids); looking at the tribe as a unit of society, the breakdown of clan structures and the evolution of multicultural empires which were, to some extent, meritocratic. To explore empires which stretched across the world and major cities with large cosmopolitan populations which led to high levels of culture and science. To explore innovation, for example in mathematics, astronomy, medicine, navigation To explore the role and place of major religions.

    To explore the typical features of global medieval societies: 

    • Feudal structures 
    • Organised religion,
    • Cultural interaction, exchange and trade (including international currencies) across continents, land and oceans (e.g. the Vikings and Byzantium, the Silk Roads)
    • The emergence of great wealth leading to cultural flourishing (e.g. in Baghdad, Venice, Seville, Beijing, and/or Timbuktu)

    To introduce European colonisation of the rest of the world. 

    Pedagogical Reasoning
    To understand the origins of modern societies. To understand Europe’s place as a peripheral zone in the medieval global world, and how European hegemony began to be.  

    Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation
    Consider a global perspective of the middle ages, with an emphasis on the mutual influence of cultures. Examine the dominance of the societies of Asia and Central America and the highly developed nature of various non-European cultures and societies around the world. 

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

     

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

    Indicative Content
    Analysis of sentence structure, using technical grammatical language.  

    Modal verbs. 

    Consciousness of effects of texts on the reader.

    Distinguish between and choose texts for subtly different purposes or functions (business vs love letter; formal vs informal - text messages vs letter of complaint; etc)

    Pedagogical Reasoning
    The schooling of analytical thinking, beginning to understand the abstract concepts that have been applied to language. 

    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: doing business: how money works; geometrical instruments

    Indicative Content
    Continued consolidation and development of fluency in mental and written arithmetic. 

    The pupils are now at the point where they are ready to work with formulae and to discover how this abstract concept can be applied to solving everyday mathematical problems, introduced in the Business/Commerce Main Lesson.

    The pupils’ work on fractions and decimals will be extended to include percentages, ratios, statistics, handling data, and business maths in authentic, practical contexts where possible  (including, for example, Simple Interest, compound interest, VAT and Profit and Loss), 

    Pupils are introduced to geometrical proofs, e.g. the sum of the internal angles of a triangle, and proof using calculations. For example, the principles of congruency applied to congruent triangles, translation of triangles and quadrilaterals, etc. Connections can be made to geometry in nature, e.g. leaf patterns. 

    In Geometry, the pupils will develop their constructions using compass and ruler. The emphasis is on clean lines, precise measurements and accuracy of corners/junctions.

    Pedagogical Reasoning
    The curriculum content signals a move towards an abstract, formulaic approach to maths. This approach meets and responds to the developmental threshold that the twelve-year-old passes over, from imaginative to conceptual thinking. This acts as a counterbalance to the awakened subjectivity of adolescence by providing a model of logical consequences. Analytical-critical faculties develop: the ability to behold causative thinking and the capacity to participate in logical thought processes and arrive at formulae by deduction.

    Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation
    Maths and geometry were used by many early societies for engineering and architectural purposes. Include histories and biographies of a wide range of people including women and people from different cultures and backgrounds. 

    Suggested ARLOs
    Maths, Visual and Graphic Arts

     

    Modern Foreign Languages - Literacy and Culture

    Indicative Content
    Each lesson has a blend of free speaking, conversation, grammar and vocabulary work, practice, reading and sometimes storytelling. Pupils should develop a systematic overview of what has been learned, and what is yet to be learned. Creative writing using acquired skills. A more specific focus on the geography, history and culture of the countries in which the target language is spoken, and the history of the language itself (e.g. Greek/Latin roots etc).

    Pedagogical Reasoning
    At this age, pupils respond to order and structure, and require visible planning. They need to be able to discuss how much they need to learn, how much can be learned in a set timeframe, and to have tangible evidence of their progress. 

    Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation
    Pupils should get a sense for the spoken language of a range of other cultures (e.g. Hebrew, Arabic, Mandarin Chinese).  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: Woodwork and Gardening

    Indicative Content
    Woodwork becomes a focus in the indoor workshop, with the development of skills in tool use, carving, and the creation of concave and convex forms through small woodwork projects. The link to the outdoor environment is made through green woodwork, using axes and drawknives to create garden equipment such as fences and gates from the log. Chestnut is a particularly suitable wood to use at this stage.

    Outdoors, the focus shifts to the/a school garden. This can be managed through the pupils contributing to the whole school garden, through separate class garden plots. The pupils should accompany the whole process: planning and developing a garden with a wide range of flowers, fruit and vegetables; soils, soil preparation and compost, tending the garden, harvesting the crops and the cooking and consumption of food. The emphasis is on taking personal responsibility, with pupils being directly connected to the fruits of their labour. Ecology can be studied, for example looking at snail populations, or specific insects and their host plants. A school pond offers a further range of opportunities to explore ecology and biodiversity. In physics, levers, pulleys and related machines can be explored outdoors in practical demonstrations.

    Offsite, forestry can include the clearing of scrublands and the planting of trees in a nature reserve. Geology can be introduced on the ground and is often the subject of overnight trips, including significant hiking.

    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 blacksmithing (building a pit forge, maintaining a fire, exploring different types of steel, making a sword or a hook), or ceramics (digging clay, pinch pots, raku firing).

    Pedagogical Reasoning
    As pupils make the transition into and through adolescence, taking personal responsibility becomes a major aim. Muscular growth in pre-teens means that pupils are ready for heavier tasks.

    Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation
    Attention should be paid to important technical innovations in other cultures regarding navigation, horse breeding and riding (invention of the stirrup), metallurgy, architecture (aqueducts, roads, arches and domes, irrigation systems, water storage cisterns in Africa, buildings that remain cool and ventilated in hot countries like Mali, India) and building materials (megalithic culture, dry-stone Nuraghe in Sardinia, underground carved cave-dwelling on Malta, multi-storied Pueblo buildings, wooden buildings on large scale e.g. Japan). 

    Suggested ARLOs
    Science and Technology, Biology, Physics, Design and Technology, Geography, Careers

     

    Plants in their environments

    Indicative Content
    Looking at plants in their environments across the year.

    Flowering plants: spring plants from bulbs; summer flowering plants (including e.g. cruciferous and umbellifers), autumn – grasses and cereals.

    Rhizomes, plants that grow from a stock (e.g. roses)

    Pedagogical Reasoning
    At this age, the intellectual capacities of the pupils can monitor cause and effect over time and in space. Plants are no longer observed as individuals at one point in time, but as part of a larger ecosystem and over the course of the seasons.

    Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation
    Consideration of the human impact on ecosystems. 

    Suggested ARLOs
    Biology Class 6-8, Sustainable Living

     

    Plants in their environments: trees and hedgerows

    Indicative Content
    The main indigenous trees in their environments (including human environments), where they grow, and the habitats and environments they create for other species (e.g. birds, mammals, insects, plants and fungi).

    History and tradition of hedgerows, functionality of hedgerows – e.g. prevention of soil erosion, wildlife habitats and corridors, biodiversity etc

    Forests – deciduous and coniferous.

    Trees and timber.

    Cultural history of trees and forests – house building, boat building, forest rights etc

    Forests outside of the UK – rain forests, eucalyptus forests, sequoia, bristle-cone pine forests etc

    Pedagogical Reasoning
    Building on children’s learning in Class 5 botany, moving on to the biggest and most complex plants and ecosystems. As children move further into puberty, they begin to understand the relationship between causality and responsibility. The different tree types create metaphors for different psychological/personality types.

    Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation
    The metaphor of the forest has different connotations in different cultures. Forestry and landscapes – the taming of nature for human leisure. Removal of indigenous peoples to create National Parks in the USA. Indigenous people of the rainforest and the impact of the lumber and soya bean industry. Impact of palm oil plantations on wildlife and local people. Monocultures, e.g. Sitka spruce.

    Suggested ARLOs
    Biology Class 6-8, Sustainable Living

     

    Zoology: types and classifications

    Indicative Content
    To understand different animal types in their contexts: mammals, reptiles, fish, molluscs and insects.

    Descriptive accounts and use of media to study a number of classes of animals, their anatomy, behaviour and habitats.

    The characteristics of mammals, marsupials, reptiles, fish, molluscs and insects are examined, and comparisons made between similar animals on different continents. Understanding how animals are classified by their characteristics.

    Reproductive strategies on a spectrum from minimal parenting (e.g. frogs, fish) through nest building (e.g. ducks, birds) to extended care of infant marsupials and mammals. States of neonates from naked/blind to herd/prey animals. Herds and social animals.

    The importance and uses of insects for humans, the relationship between plants and insects and balance of population growth and control. The consequences of insecticides vs organic methods. Social insects and their organisation e.g. bees.

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

    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
    Biology Classes 6-8

     

    Physics: Sound, light, heat, magnetism and electricity.

    Indicative Content
    An observation-based study of sound, light, heat, magnetism and electricity.

    Simple materials and equipment that make phenomena appear as clearly as possible. Pupils observe the phenomena, draw and describe what they have observed, and identify the principles at work.

    Sound:

    The acoustic properties of a range of materials, making connections between vibration and sound. The relationship between the vibrating body, its size and the pitch of a sound produce, e.g. hitting bottles and/or blowing over the top. The speed of sound over distance, for example measuring the time between seeing a sound being made at the end of the school field and hearing it. How sound travels through different materials, e.g. wood, water and air. Resonance as the relationship between natural and forced frequency through practical experience, e.g. singing glasses, paper jumping on a taught musical string. Sound as motion, for example, monochords and Chlandni plates.

    Light:

    Light sources in dark spaces and the illumination of different surfaces. Light through different materials, including levels of transparency and opacity.  The relationship between light sources, objects and shadow, and specular reflection (reflection from smooth, shiny surfaces). Refraction in water.

    Thermo-dynamics:

    Temperatures and heat sources in everyday life, including natural forms of heat such as body heat, sunlight etc. Impact of reduction in temperature, e.g. the formation of ice on water in winter.

    Electricity and Magnetism:

    Magnetism and static electrical charge. Generate a static charge by bringing together and then separating a number of different materials. Complete experiments to illustrate which materials have electrical potential, and how bringing these materials together produces a charge. Create electrical circuits that illustrate the use of insulators and conductors to increase electrical charge, ideally using an electrification apparatus involving a conductor plate (see Somer, 2019)

    Magnets and compasses. The concept of North and South pole. Attracting and repelling.

    Connections can be made to natural phenomena, for example a thunderstorm could be used to illustrate electrical charge and the speed of sound.

    Pedagogical Reasoning
    Class 6 age need to ground their growing independence in their own keen observation and the ideas that they generate as to what is taking place, unencumbered by theories and explanations. The teacher's task is to help them sharpen their ideas and guide them to see basic laws (e.g. polarity).

    They need to observe both teacher-led demonstrations and independently explore phenomena, developing practical skills to devise ways of testing their ideas.

    Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation
    In the past, science has had a close connection to practical, economic life. Much of content of this block was used around the world, in many indigenous societies and cultures before it was fully understood in the terms of modern, Western science. Many non-European cultures were advanced in their use of magnetism (for example the historical Chinese origins of magnetism in navigation); the creation of musical instruments;   Ḥasan Ibn al-Haytham – the father of modern optics etc.

    At this stage, the aim of the science curriculum is to understand the material world around us and how we interact with it, making it accessible for all, rather than the preserve of elite scientists.

    Suggested ARLOs
    Physics Class 6-8

     

    Further afield: Societies, Environments and Geology

    Indicative Content
    Geography differentiates into geology, regional and physical geography. Two main lesson blocks a year are necessary.

    The British Isles as a whole and Europe. The pupils are familiar with contrasting landscapes and the life forms that belong to them (e.g. uplands, bogland, plains, estuaries and coastal forms, river systems, islands), these perspective are now extended to Europe, looking at the interactions between climate, ocean currents, light, warmth. Starting with the shape and position of the European landmass , in the east as extension of the Central Asian steppes, the Urals, the Northern European plans, the Alps, the Black Sea, Mediterranean, Baltic Sea, Scandinavia and Atlantic coastland, major river systems Rhine, Danube, Rhone, Dnieper, Volga.   

    A topographical and morphological overview of the Earth as a whole. Shape of the continents and oceans, major ocean currents such as the Gulf Stream. The dependence of vegetation on climate and the sun. Deserts, tropical rainforest, temperate forests, eucalyptus forests of Australia, cold grasslands and steppes, savannah, subarctic and arctic environments. Climate change. Main mountain chains – North-South Andes/Rockies, East West Alps/Hindu Kush(Himalayas.  Main rift valleys (e.g. Red-Sea Jordan/East African Great Rift Valley. The unique character of major river systems Ganges, Yellow River, Yangtze, Congo, Amazon, Mississippi/Missouri/Ohio), effects of industrial agriculture (plains and steppes) and de-afforestation. Main sources of raw material and international trade and main transport systems (container shipping), including Panama and Suez canals.

    Geology. Linked to geography the main different rock types (igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary) and their origins and character. Typical landscapes associated with different rock types Focus on particular rock types, granite, gneiss, feldspar, quartz, mica, basalt, volcanic lava, slate, sandstone, limestone, precious stones. Connection to mountain building and main forms of erosion and landscapes form associated with these (e.g. canyons, river valleys and deltas, typical mountain landscapes from high peaks to alps and glaciated valleys, dry valleys), glaciation. Land use related to geology. Extraction of coal, mineral oil, gas, iron, copper, lead tin, gold, rare earths and their uses and environmental problems associated with them.

    Pedagogical Reasoning
    The nature of causality, short term (e.g. drought) and long term (mountain building) can be profoundly experienced and how systematic exploration especially through field work and accurate representation (drawings, painting, modelling, maps, photographs, vivid and atmospheric descriptions. This combination of bodily experience, imagination, visualising, logical thinking, emotional response and connections to practical life and economics both school thinking, enable accurate visualising, extends language skills, develops spatial and temporal awareness, awakens sense of cause and effect and consequences and forms a basis for sense of wonder and responsibility.   

    Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation
    Geography is the basis for human culture and economic relationships to the land. This has included exploitation of land and people, has led to injustices in trade, destruction of habitats, pollution of sea, land and air. Human-caused land erosion, even in antiquity through felling trees, charcoal burning, enclosures, mining and quarrying.  

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

     

    Life and Love

    Indicative Content
    It is useful to hold a parents’ evening up to a year before this main lesson block so that parents have the opportunity to talk to their children about sex before the teacher does.

    Reproduction in plants; labelled diagrams using the vocabulary of sexual reproduction.

    Life cycle of the butterfly, the mayfly and the salmon.

    Compare and contrast the adults’ role in reproduction and care, and the relationship between adults and young, for plants, insects, fish/amphibians, birds, mammals and humans.

    Child development (working backwards), and the development of a baby in the womb.

    Structure of the primary sexual organs. Biological sex vs gender identity and expression.

    Love and relationships including LGBTQ+, sex and making love. Privacy.

    Pedagogical Reasoning
    Interdisciplinary approach to relationship and sex education which combines phenomenological science, cultural understandings and social skills, which pulls together threads that have been woven in previous teaching and learning. This topic is taught at this time so as to match the awakening intellect with emerging emotional development. Puberty will have begun for most children, and an early start gives embodied confidence and cultural literacy.

    Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation
    Gender equality – taking a perspective from contemporary gender awareness. People should have ownership and control over their own bodies, not to be manipulated by other people, by advertising/media influences and pornography. Awareness of history of feminism and male power over women’s bodies.  Laying foundations for a moral sense for the abhorrence of sexual abuse and the sex trade industry. Cultural awareness and sensitivity to manage the sometimes conflicting views of parents with statutory RSE guidance.

    Suggested ARLOs
    RSE, PSHE, Biology Class 6-8

     

    Media Education 

    Indicative Content
    In Class Six pupils begin to bring the skills they have developed in the analogue world into the digital and contemporary realm. They begin to use internet searches to inform their research, and present some of their work as newspaper/magazine articles or digital equivalents such as blogs. The music they play, sing and study becomes more complex, and they explore the projection of images as light and shadow. By the age of 12, children may well be beginning to move around the internet on their own, and need to be explicitly taught media awareness, including self-image and identity, online relationships, online reputation, online bullying, managing online information, health, wellbeing and lifestyle, privacy and security, and copyright and ownership. This content could be covered in a main lesson block, resulting in the awarding of a ‘Media Driver’s Licence’.

    Pedagogical Reasoning
    Starting from the transition to puberty, the children begin the developmental task of leaving the sheltered space of childhood, expanding their radius of action and to move more independently in the world, including the digital world. Media awareness includes the ability to distinguish between fact and fiction, to recognise fake identities and fake news, and to navigate the internet in a data-secure manner, understanding the consequences of misconduct in the digital arena.

    Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation
    Stories, music 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
    Technology, RSE, PSHE

     

    A Media Driver’s Licence

    Indicative Content
    In Class 6 pupils begin to bring the skills they have developed in the analogue world into the digital and contemporary realm. They begin to use internet searches to inform their research, and present some of their work as newspaper/magazine articles or digital equivalents such as blogs. The music they play, sing and study becomes more complex, and they explore the projection of images as light and shadow. By the age of 12, children may well be beginning to move around the internet on their own, and need to be explicitly taught media awareness, including self-image and identity, online relationships, online reputation, online bullying, managing online information, health, wellbeing and lifestyle, privacy and security, and copyright and ownership. This content could be covered in a main lesson block, resulting in the awarding of a ‘Media Driver’s Licence’.

    Pedagogical Reasoning
    Starting from the transition to puberty, the children begin the developmental task of leaving the sheltered space of childhood, expanding their radius of action and to move more independently in the world, including the digital world. Media awareness includes the ability to distinguish between fact and fiction, to recognise fake identities and fake news, and to navigate the internet in a data-secure manner, understanding the consequences of misconduct in the digital arena.

    Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation
    Stories, music 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
    Design and Technology, RSE, PSHE

     

    Spiritual, religious, ethical and moral education 

    Indicative Content
    Polytheism to monotheism – Roman to Christian festivals, beliefs and stories. A growing awareness of human values – and examples of the courage to overcome where human dignity and integrity can prevail. Cause and effect – and the making and application of rules.

    Beginning of inspirational biographies that link to other themes and content from the year e.g., Helen Keller (physics). Stories of contrasting societies, cause and effect.

    Roman festivals such as St. Valentine’s Day, Roman traditions and Roman worship of multiple gods.  Study of Christ and Christianity. Use of the Gospels. Exploration of the parables – discussion of their meaning/s. Christianity as it was experienced in Rome through the move from polytheism to monotheism, including persecution and struggles. Different attitudes around issues such as death. Christian life today through festivals, human experience, traditions and beliefs.

    PSHE: Law making in Rome and ideals of democracy against realities of dictatorships and positions of power.

    If the Class 6 curriculum covers the crusades, Islam can be brought historically in terms of cultural contribution, and a study of Islamic stories, traditions, beliefs and practices. This is sometimes left until Class 7 – which has a stronger Islamic focus.

    Questions: Learning ABOUT religion – what is it? What religions are there? How important is religion – in other’s lives and in our own?

    Pedagogical Reasoning
    Peer values become increasingly significant - clear social roles in class, with new social relationships. The teacher establishes a new relationship of lawful authority.

    There is a growing orientation towards the outer world they will live and work in as adults. Direct new critical faculties towards observing the natural world scientifically. Interest in social relationships provides an opportunity to take responsibility for the class community.

    Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation
    Research Rome and Christianity (and Islam if studied) widely. Not reliant on one source of story or content. Encourage the class to search for prejudice or bias in content and engage in open discussions about representation and diversity. Use content that is diverse in its point of view and in its representation of people, gender, sex, sexuality, religion and ethnicity.

    Suggested ARLOs
    SMSC

    Under development!

    Physical Education

    Indicative Content
    The class

    Pedagogical Reasoning

    Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation
    All

    Suggested ARLOs
    Physical

    Under development!

    Music

    Indicative Content
    In Class Six lesson themes and music lessons connect wherever possible in the curriculum throughout all classes. For Class 6, topics include Ancient Rome and European Geography. 

    In classes 6 there is also a class play or musical in which the music is created with and performed by the pupils.

    Classes 6,7 & 8  form a middle school choir, and also their individual ensembles perform at the major festivals throughout the year. In these classes, pupils are encouraged to share their own ideas, arrangements, compositions etc and some choice is given to content of ensemble music, alongside the curriculum. The increase in student led ideas and collaborations meets the needs of the growing individual. History, theory and aural work remains an integral part of the practical 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

    Under development!

    Eurythmy

    Indicative Content
    Class Six  sees the transition to a more 'earthbound’ stage of development, where order and structure in the outer world will serve the needs of the children. At this age the unity of movement, that has been taken for granted, gradually becomes unbalanced and a vital two fold process is unfolding. The sudden physical growth that renders the child somewhat ‘clumsy’ and uncoordinated, is balanced by the unfolding of the forces of the soul. The child no longer works out of the imitative state, but longs to grasp and understand the laws that govern the outside world and can ‘conceptualise’ intellectually the law of cause and effect.

    In history Class 6 studies Rome and the Roman laws. This is enhanced in Eurythmy by the teaching of complex geometrical forms (triangle, squares, diamonds) which have extremely strict laws to their transitions. These forms are practised with precision and with awareness of the whole.

    Rhythm and symmetry exercises can be used to help in recreating physical coordination as well as exercises using copper rods to help the children to form a coherent inner image of their spatial dimensions and to help being aware of their physical boundaries. 

    The Roman theme of structure and law is reflected in Eurythmy by a strong emphasis in all grammar forms. Grammatical laws which govern a poem are brought into a Eurythmy movement using ballads and other dramatic poems. The careful selection of inspiring ‘folk heroes’ can greatly add to the inner development of morality.  Some soul mood gestures might be introduced at this point (can be deferred to class 7).

    The Octave is expressed as a general movement impulse in speech gestures and music.

    • Grammatical laws introduced through dramatic texts (ballad, poem or story)
    • Various musical scales in major and corresponding  minor scale
    • Listening exercises: identifying major and minor, intervals
    • More difficult concentration and dexterity exercises
    • Fine and gross motor exercises with rods :12-fold exercise on six-pointed star 
    • Simple rod-throwing sequence in pairs
    • Metamorphosis of geometrical forms, practised with frontal orientation
    • Pedagogical exercises: Energy and Peace Dance

    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