Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.

‘Some primary schools are like the High Street in many of our towns. I can predict what I will see before I go through the door. What I want to see is something that gives me a sense of pride in place and community.'

Ex OfSTED Primary Inspector

Introduction

Editor's note: What shall we teach without the QCA units? How do we link subjects when our Foundation Subjects knowledge is thin? How do we use learning in core subjects to enhance our children's understanding of people and places? How do we turn local stories and issues into enquiries? What does ‘Historical, geographical and social understanding' look like? These are thequestions that two Primary Advisory Teachers in County Durham have been helping teachers to answer through practical examples, see Case Studies 4-6. The Case Studies relate closely to draft guidance for proposed Historical, Geographical and Social Understanding programmes of study, see Figure 1.

Designing engaging enquiries

In County Durham many of our teachers and subject coordinators are preparing for the new Primary Curriculum by planning enquiries that link learning as described in the draft Programmes of Learning (April-July 2009). Their evaluations...