Opening Worlds
From September 2024, we have adopted the Opening Worlds humanities curriculum for history, geography, and religious education (RE) in Key Stage 2. This carefully designed curriculum, alongside its research-driven teaching approaches, ensures the highest quality of education by reflecting academic disciplines beyond the classroom and structuring knowledge in a way that helps children make meaningful connections.
The curriculum is deliberately sequenced, enabling pupils to build upon prior learning and use earlier knowledge to access more complex ideas. Words and concepts explicitly taught in Year 3 are reinforced and expanded upon in Years 4-6, ensuring that pupils develop both subject-specific knowledge and a rich vocabulary that supports deeper understanding.
To maintain the integrity of this progression, all Key Stage 2 pupils have begun their Opening Worlds journey with Year 3 content in the 2024-25 academic year. While transitioning from the school’s previous curriculum, we identified minor content gaps, which are being addressed through other curriculum areas or discrete lessons.
More information on Opening Worlds cane be found here: https://openingworlds.uk/
The implementation progression will be as follows:
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September 2024 |
September 2025 |
September 2026 |
September 2027 |
September 2028 onwards |
| Year 6 cohort 2024-25 |
Year 3 curriculum |
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| Year 5 cohort 202-25 |
Year 3 curriculum |
Year 4 curriculum |
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| Year 4 cohort 2024-25 |
Year 3 curriculum |
Year 4 curriculum |
Year 5 curriculum |
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| Year 3 cohort 2024-25 |
Year 3 curriculum |
Year 4 curriculum |
Year 5 curriculum |
Year 6 curriculum |
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| Year 2 cohort 2024-25 |
Summer one year 2 unit |
Year 3 curriculum |
Year 4 curriculum |
Year 5 curriculum |
Year 6 curriculum |
Unit breakdown:
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History |
Geography |
RE |
| Year 3 |
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| Autumn Term |
- Ancient Egypt
- Cradles of Civilisation – Ancient Mesopotamia
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- Rivers
- Mountains and Famous Mountain Ranges
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- A Hindu Story – Rama and Sita
- Hinduism origins: places and stories from the Indus Valley.
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| Spring Term |
- Indus Valley Civilisation
- Ancient Greece
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- Settlements and Cities
- Agriculture and Farming
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- Living as a Hindu
- Judaism How have stories from the Hebrew Bible shaped Judaism?
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| Summer Term |
- Ancient Greece – The Culture
- Alexander the Great
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- Volcanoes and the earth’s structure
- Climate and Biomes
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- Moses and Exodus
- Samuel, Saul and David Stories
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| Year 4 |
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| Autumn Term |
- Ancient Rome
- The Roman Empire
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- The Rhine and Mediterranean
- Populations, diversity and migration
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- Christianity and Palestine – The stories from the New Testament
- The New Testament – why are stories important to Christians
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| Spring Term |
- The Ancient Britons – The Celts and Roman Rule
- Constantine, Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire
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- Coastal Processes and landforms
- Tourism – A study of the Rhine/Mediterranean and National Parks
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- New Testament Stories – Jesus and the meaning for Christians
- New Testament Stories
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| Summer Term |
- Ancient Arabia and the Bedouin Culture
- The rise of Islam
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- Earthquakes and tectonic plates
- Climate change and deserts
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- Christian traditions and practices around the world
- Christianity in London today
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History |
Geography |
RE |
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Year 5
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| Autumn Term |
- Baghdad – the round city – comparing cities in the early medieval world
- Anglo-Saxons and their arrival in Briton
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- Why is California so thirsty?
- Oceans and trade
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- Muslim beliefs – claims about truth and worldviews
- The festival of Eid around the world
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| Spring Term |
- Viking raids
- Norse Culture
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- Migration in Europe and the world – global trade
- North and South America
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- Islam in Britain and London
- Buddhism and its Hinduism origin
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| Summer Term |
- Christianity in the British Isles
- Early civilisations in the Americas (Amazonian tribes)
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- Rainforests and the Amazon basin
- Agriculture in the Amazon basin
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- Buddhism – Buddhism today
- Sikhism today
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| Year 6 |
History |
Geography |
RE |
| Autumn Term |
- London and migration through time – changes from the Saxons to the 1500s
- Tudor London
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- Comparing three contrasting cultures (Wales/London, Mediterranean/Rhine, Amazon/California)
- Polar regions
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- The origin of two key religions
- Changing religion in England over time – Henry VIII and reformations
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| Spring Term |
- The Kingdom of Benin
- 17th century London – Samuel Pepys
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- Natural resources in London
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- Changing religion in England over time – Islam and Hinduism
- Changing religion in England over time – Judaism
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| Summer Term |
- Eighteenth and Nineteenth century London
- Britain, London and the Second World War
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- Deepening understanding of religious traditions through religious art, music and literature
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