History, Geography and Religious Studies: understanding people, places, beliefs and the world around us.
Explore Humanities
Learning at Orange Tree School
Our Humanities curriculum helps students explore people, places, beliefs and events, make connections across subjects, and develop informed, thoughtful and responsible perspectives on the world.
At Orange Tree School, the Humanities curriculum brings together History, Geography and Religious Studies to develop informed, thoughtful and responsible citizens who can understand and engage with the complex world around them. Through the study of people, places, beliefs and events across local, national and global contexts, students gain the knowledge, skills and understanding needed to thrive in modern society. Our intent is to inspire curiosity about the world, its past and its diverse communities. Students are encouraged to explore how landscapes, societies, cultures and beliefs have developed over time, and to recognise the connections between historical events, geographical processes and human experiences. By examining a range of perspectives, sources and viewpoints, students learn to think critically, evaluate evidence and make informed judgements in an age where information is increasingly accessible but not always reliable.
The Humanities curriculum builds on students’ own experiences while broadening their understanding of the wider world. Through History, students investigate how the past has shaped the present, developing a strong sense of identity, chronology and critical enquiry. Through Geography, students develop an appreciation of the diversity and beauty of environments and gain an understanding of sustainability, global interdependence and their responsibilities as global citizens. Through Religious Studies, students engage with questions of belief, value, meaning and purpose, exploring both religious and non-religious worldviews while developing respect, tolerance and understanding for others. Across all Humanities subjects, we aim to equip students with the confidence to express their own views, listen respectfully to the opinions of others and engage thoughtfully with issues that affect individuals, communities and society. We seek to develop independent learners who can analyse, question and reflect, enabling them to become active, compassionate and informed members of a diverse and ever-changing world.
The Humanities curriculum at Orange Tree School is carefully planned and sequenced to ensure that all students can access and engage with learning, regardless of their starting points or prior experiences. Through the study of History, Geography and Religious Studies, students develop the knowledge, skills and understanding needed to become critical thinkers, effective communicators and active members of modern society. Our curriculum is delivered through structured schemes of work that provide clear progression in subject-specific knowledge and disciplinary skills across all key stages. Teachers adapt lessons to meet the needs of individual learners, ensuring that learning is accessible, appropriately challenging and responsive to students' circumstances. We recognise that many of our students may have experienced disruption to their education and therefore place a strong emphasis on creating a safe, supportive and inclusive learning environment where students can re-engage with learning and achieve success.
Across Humanities, students are encouraged to question, investigate and evaluate information critically. They develop their ability to analyse evidence, interpret sources, consider multiple viewpoints and construct informed, balanced judgements. Opportunities for discussion, debate and reflection are embedded throughout the curriculum, enabling students to explore complex issues, challenge assumptions and develop confidence in expressing their ideas while respecting the views of others. A range of teaching and learning strategies are used to engage and motivate learners, including independent tasks, collaborative activities, enquiry-based learning and structured discussion. In History, students progressively refine key disciplinary concepts such as cause and consequence, significance, change and continuity, and source analysis. In Geography, students develop spatial awareness through the use of maps, visual imagery, fieldwork and geographical information systems (GIS), learning to investigate and analyse issues affecting people and environments at local, national and global scales. In Religious Studies, students engage with religious and non-religious worldviews, using sources of wisdom and authority to deepen their understanding while developing their ability to debate, discuss and write persuasively.
Progression is supported through effective differentiation, targeted questioning, regular feedback and opportunities for challenge. Key vocabulary and subject-specific terminology are explicitly taught across all Humanities subjects to strengthen literacy and improve students’ ability to communicate their understanding. Extended writing opportunities allow students to develop their reasoning, analytical and evaluative skills, while regular retrieval practice ensures that knowledge is revisited, retained and built upon over time. Through this approach, students develop the confidence, resilience and independence required to succeed in further education, employment and life in contemporary British society.
Through the Humanities curriculum at Orange Tree School, students will leave with a deep and sustained understanding of contemporary Britain and the wider world. They will have developed the knowledge, skills and cultural awareness needed to navigate an increasingly complex and diverse society with confidence, empathy and understanding. Students will become effective communicators who can articulate ideas clearly, construct reasoned arguments and engage thoughtfully with the views of others. They will be critical thinkers who can analyse information, evaluate evidence, consider multiple perspectives and make informed judgements. These skills will enable them to participate actively and responsibly in modern British society and will be reflected in their individual progress, engagement and achievement, including success in national qualifications.
Across History, Geography and Religious Studies, students will develop transferable skills that prepare them for further education, employment and lifelong learning. They will leave with the confidence to apply the enquiry, research, analytical and evaluative skills they have embedded, developed and refined throughout their Humanities education from Key Stage 3 through to Key Stage 5.
Through History, students will develop a strong understanding of how the past has shaped the present, alongside the ability to interpret evidence, analyse sources and evaluate differing interpretations. These highly valued skills support progression into a wide range of careers, including law, journalism, education, finance, accountancy, archaeology, museum work, policing, the civil service and politics.
Through Geography, students will gain an understanding of the relationships between people, places and environments at local, national and global scales. They will be equipped with the knowledge and skills to engage with contemporary issues and future challenges, preparing them for successful transitions into further study, employment and active global citizenship.
Through Religious Studies, students will develop an understanding of religious and non-religious worldviews, enabling them to function effectively in a diverse society. They will strengthen key transferable skills, including communication, research, evaluation and analysis, which are highly valued by employers and support progression into fields such as law, education, journalism, healthcare, social services, marketing, hospitality, public service and theology. Students may also choose to continue their studies through qualifications such as A-Level Philosophy and Ethics.
Ultimately, the impact of Humanities at Orange Tree School is the development of knowledgeable, reflective and open-minded young people who are prepared for the opportunities and challenges of the future. They will leave equipped not only with academic knowledge and qualifications, but also with the confidence, curiosity and critical thinking skills required to make positive contributions to their communities and the wider world.
Students are taught in mixed-attainment groups, ensuring that all learners have access to a broad, balanced and inclusive Humanities curriculum. At Key Stage 3, Humanities is delivered through a carousel model, with students studying History, Geography and Religious Studies on a rotational basis. Students study History in Autumn 1 and Spring 2, Geography in Autumn 2 and Summer 1, and Religious Studies in Spring 1 and Summer 2. Students receive four 50-minute Humanities lessons per week. This approach enables students to gain a broad and diverse understanding of each discipline while developing subject-specific knowledge alongside key transferable skills such as critical thinking, analysis, evaluation, communication and enquiry. The carousel model ensures that students experience the distinct perspectives offered by History, Geography and Religious Studies, helping them to make connections between the subjects and the wider world. The curriculum is designed to build confidence, curiosity and independence, providing students with a strong foundation for further study at Key Stage 4 and supporting successful progression towards GCSE qualifications and beyond.
Skills for progression to Key Stage 4: Developing analytical skills, understanding more advanced inference, deeper interpretation skills.
GCSE History, Geography and RS require developing a balanced argument and understanding different interpretations.
What is History?
Students explore chronology, timelines, primary and secondary sources, and the skills needed to understand history.
What can a lady from Roman York tell us about Roman Britain?
Using the skills from the first unit, students investigate life in Roman Britain through a historical figure.
Extra:
Medieval Realms.
How rapidly did England change under the Normans?
How shocking was Thomas Becket’s murder?
What is a Geographer?
Students will explore the continents and oceans of the world and assess the links between continent land mass and population size.
Natural Resources:
Students will explore how we use our planet as a natural resource.
Extra:
The UK Physical Landscape
What are religion and beliefs?
The students will explore the various definitions of the concept of ‘religion’. Students will gain an understanding of how this concept has developed over time and how it has been understood.
Does God Exist?
Students explore classical arguments for and against the existence of God, alongside different philosophical responses.
Extra:
Signs and Symbols
Mughal Empire
What was the Mughal Empire?
What was its impact on India?
African Kingdoms
To explore the cultures and influence of African Kingdoms.
Weather and Climate:
Students define ‘weather’ and ‘climate’ and recognise their differences.
Geography in the News
Students explore a variety of topics currently affecting the world.
How has religion impacted culture?
This unit aims to help students explore how different religious beliefs are expressed in a variety of cultural mediums including art, architecture, music, literature, and clothing.
Is religion good for the world?
Students will learn about the way in which a person encounters, interprets, understands and engages with the world up to this point, as well as the positive contributions of religious traditions.
The Tudors
Who were the Tudors? How did the reformation change England forever?
The Stuarts
Students explore the Stuarts, James I and the Gunpowder Plot, and Charles I’s belief in divine right and its relationship to the English Civil War.
What was the main reason for the outbreak of the English Civil War?
Coast and Rivers
Why are rivers and coasts important?
Students will study coastal processes, erosional and depositional landforms.
Students will learn how rivers and their valleys change downstream, how rivers erode, transport and deposit material, distinctive landforms of river systems, how physical and human factors increase the risk of flooding and the costs and benefits of hard and soft engineering approaches to managing rivers.
How has religion impacted culture?
To help students explore how different religious beliefs are expressed in a variety of cultural mediums including art, architecture, music, literature, and clothing.
Slavery
How did slavery in the New World affect Africans?
How similar were the aims of those fighting for abolition?
Civil Rights Movement in the USA, South Africa, and UK
Students compare civil rights movements in different countries and their impact.
Climate change
Students will understand how we know climate change is happening and then assess why different people may have differing views on what causes climate change.
Health and development:
Students explore why some countries struggle to develop and how levels of development are measured using more than one indicator.
Places of Worship
(Covering 6 religions)
Students will explore the different religious places of worship.
First World War
Why was there a First World War?
How Should the Great war be remembered?
The Interwar Years
How extreme were the interwar years?
Ecosystems and Tropical Rainforest.
Students consider the characteristics of rainforests, plant and animal adaptations, reasons for deforestation and the impact of this.
The Big Philosophical Question?
To understand different philosophical views about God and religions.
Is religion good for the world?
Students will learn about the way in which a person encounters, interprets, understands and engages with the world up to this point, as well as the positive contributions of religious traditions.
The Second World War:
What was the Second World War, and what was its impact?
Holocaust
How was the Holocaust able to happen?
Deserts
Hot desert ecosystems have a range of distinctive characteristics. Issues relating to biodiversity. Development of hot desert environments creates opportunities and challenges.
Natural Hazards
Earthquakes and tsunamis:
Students explore the causes and impacts of earthquakes and tsunamis, and recovery following these events.
Christianity and Islam.
Students explore the differences and similarities between the two religions.
In Years 10 and 11, students are taught in mixed-attainment groups and receive three 50-minute Humanities lessons each week.
Students currently follow the AQA GCSE History pathway, completing two examination papers.
A move to the Cambridge IGCSE History pathway is under consideration for the 2027–28 academic year.
America, 1920–1973: the boom, the Depression and New Deal, and post-war America; conflict and tension in Asia, including Korea and Vietnam; Elizabethan England, including the court, Parliament and life in Elizabethan times.
Elizabethan England: trouble at home and abroad and the historical study; Power and the People, c.1170–present day: Parliament, political rights, protest, religious causes, social equality and freedoms; revision and examinations.
Students follow the AQA GCSE Geography specification, covering physical and human geography. Current topic coverage includes:
Tectonic hazards, weather hazards and climate change; ecosystems, tropical rainforests and hot deserts; UK physical landscapes and coasts.
Urban issues and challenges; the development gap, Nigeria and the changing UK economy; resource and water management; pre-release study, revision and examinations.
Students follow the Edexcel GCSE Religious Studies specification. Lessons encourage discussion, debate and critical thinking, helping students develop informed opinions and strong evaluative skills.
Religious Studies develops literacy, communication and debating skills that are valuable across the curriculum and beyond.
Christian beliefs and practices, marriage and the family, matters of life and death, followed by Islamic beliefs and practices.
Peace and conflict, crime and punishment, consolidation of Christianity and Islam, revision and examinations.
Skills for progression to KS5: Writing analytical essays, developing a rich and broad historical vocabulary, constructing balanced arguments, proficient source analysis skills including the usefulness, reliability and inference.
Skills developed at GCSE support progression to A Level History and careers such as teaching, law, journalism, archival work, tourism and management consultancy.
Students can study A Level History, developing their understanding of historical events, interpretations and enquiry skills.
Stuart Britain and the Crisis of Monarchy, 1603–1702
The Cold War, 1945–1991
Historical Investigation (3,000–3,500-word coursework essay)
Assessment consists of two exams (80% of the qualification) and coursework (20%).
Students can study A Level Geography, exploring both physical and human geography.
Water and Carbon Cycles
Coastal Systems and Hazards
Global Systems and Governance
Changing Places
Resource Security
Independent Fieldwork Investigation (3,000–4,000 words)
Assessment consists of two exams (80% of the qualification) and a fieldwork investigation (20%).
Students can study A Level Philosophy, Ethics and Theology, assessed through three written examinations.
Philosophy – key thinkers and philosophical ideas
Ethics – ethical theories and contemporary issues
Theology – the development of Christian thought and beliefs
The course develops critical thinking, discussion, analysis and essay-writing skills, preparing students for higher education and a wide range of careers.
Studying these subjects develops a range of transferable skills, including summarising information, interpreting data, analysis, evaluation, research and communication. These skills support progression into further education, employment and training.
History: Law, journalism, teaching, archaeology, politics, policing, civil service, media, marketing and publishing.
Geography: Teaching, GIS analysis, environmental management, journalism, tourism, consultancy and research.
Religious Studies: Law, journalism, teaching, lecturing, writing, theology and community leadership.
These qualifications provide students with valuable skills that are highly regarded by universities and employers across a wide range of sectors.
Students develop cultural capital through a wide range of enriching experiences that build knowledge, understanding and awareness of the world.
Students engage with historical fiction, documentaries and rich curriculum content exploring key themes such as society, inequality, war, the environment and the use of natural resources. Local history is also explored through visits such as Hampton Court Palace.
Geography strengthens cultural capital through exposure to global case studies, visual resources and real-world examples of different places, environments and cultures. Where possible, learning is enhanced through trips and guest speakers, helping students understand global issues and compare different ways of life. Religious Studies further enriches cultural capital through visits to places of worship, museum trips, guest speakers from religious communities, and the use of documentaries and media that explore religious diversity. Students also engage with artists and writers who incorporate religious ideas into their work.
Students develop a broader understanding of society, culture and belief systems, helping them to appreciate diversity and the world beyond their own experience.
Literacy is embedded across all Humanities lessons and is promoted through a consistent whole-school approach. Students are provided with keyword sheets, glossaries and subject-specific vocabulary booklets to develop their understanding of key terminology and support their academic literacy. A range of structured resources, including revision guides and scaffolded materials, are used to enhance learning and enable students to access the curriculum successfully.
Writing is supported through the use of sentence starters, writing frames and modelled examples. As students become more confident and secure in their written responses, these scaffolds are gradually removed to promote independence. The school's Wave 1 Literacy strategies are consistently implemented across lessons, including the expectation that students speak in full sentences, participate in Green Pen Check and Talk activities, and engage in Model and Write tasks to strengthen their communication and writing skills.
Review of Learning (ROLs) and Make it Better (MIBs) are incorporated regularly throughout each term to encourage reading, develop comprehension skills and broaden students’ subject knowledge. Students receive constructive feedback using purple pen, enabling them to reflect on and improve their work. When responding to examination-style questions, staff use the WWW (What Went Well) and EBI (Even Better If) approach alongside structured mark schemes and success criteria to support progress and develop exam technique.
To further improve literacy, students have literacy codes available in their books. These codes are used by staff to identify spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors, enabling students to recognise patterns in their mistakes and take ownership of improving their literacy skills. Regular retrieval practice through Memory Platforms and standardised lesson slides is used to revisit and reinforce prior learning, helping students to retain knowledge, strengthen vocabulary and make connections across topics.
British values of democracy, rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance are embedded throughout Humanities.
In History, students explore how these values have developed through events such as the English Civil War, the Suffragettes, and both World Wars, alongside key individuals and movements that shaped Britain.
In Geography, students learn about global inequality, environments and decision-making, helping them understand fairness, responsibility and respect for others.
In Religious Studies, students explore different beliefs and cultures, developing respect, tolerance and understanding of diversity.
Across Humanities, these values are reinforced through discussion, teamwork and respectful learning.
The Humanities curriculum incorporates spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development across History, Geography and Religious Studies.
Humanities encourages curiosity and reflection about the world, people and beliefs. Students explore big questions about meaning, purpose and change over time. In History, they consider why events happened and how interpretations differ. In Geography, they develop awe and wonder of the natural world and global processes. In RS, students reflect on belief, faith and personal worldview.
Students explore right and wrong across different contexts, past and present. In History, they study moral issues such as slavery, persecution and injustice. In Geography, they consider ethical issues like climate change, resource use and global inequality. In RS, students debate moral dilemmas and develop informed opinions about justice, responsibility and decision-making.
Humanities helps students understand society and their role within it. They study social change, migration, inequality and community in Geography and History, and develop empathy for different groups and cultures. Collaborative learning, discussion and debate are key features across all subjects, helping students build communication and teamwork skills.
Students develop an understanding and appreciation of diverse cultures, beliefs and societies. In History, they explore how different cultures have shaped Britain and the wider world. In Geography, they study a range of countries, environments and ways of life. In RS, they learn about world religions and multicultural society, promoting respect, tolerance and understanding.
Students have regular access to technology across Humanities lessons, including laptops and smartboards. This supports interactive learning and allows a wide range of resources such as maps, images, videos, diagrams and animations to be used in the classroom.
Technology is also used to support collaboration and engagement, allowing students to share ideas, present work and take part in quizzes or polls. Online platforms such as Seneca and GCSEPod support learning and revision at home and in school, helping students to review and strengthen their knowledge outside the classroom.
