Knowledge and Understanding of the World
Shakhsiyah Schools’ holistic curriculum incorporates Science, Geography and ICT into an area of learning called Knowledge and Understanding of the World. This ensures that children see their learning as relevant to their lives and they come to understand how much there is to learn about the world around them encouraging their curiosity to explore and learn.
Primary Science
Shakhsiyah Schools’ recognise the importance of scientific knowledge to daily life and scientific enquiry to the development of society. We are committed to developing a love for learning Science through a range of exciting curriculum topics. Children learn about working scientifically and gain foundational knowledge in Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Children develop their conceptual understanding through exploring how scientific knowledge is used and how it impacts human beings and human societies. Children in the older years engage in stimulating journeys of scientific enquiry, learning about how scientific progress impacted people and their environments. They also learn about their Muslim heritage and the development of science in the Muslim world. The Islamic Inventions fair is an opportunity for children to discover more about Muslim scientists, how they built on Chinese, Indian and Greece science and the spread of Muslim scientific ideas into Europe and the rest of the world. During their time at the schools, children gain a growing scientific vocabulary, scientific knowledge and practical skills in conducting scientific experiments.
Primary Geography
In Shakhsiyah schools, we believe that knowledge and understanding of Geography will generate children’s curiosity and appreciation about the wonderful world we human beings inhabit. We aim to give children opportunities to explore diverse environments, places and societies enabling children to understand their relationship to their immediate surroundings and planet Earth. Children examine the way the development of human societies has been shaped by physical and social processes and are encouraged to analyse the the interdependence of the physical environment and human life. Thus, children learn and understand about different human societies, rural and urban, their effect on the environment understanding their responsibility as khalifa tul ardh (stewards of the earth) and that the world is an amanah (trust) that we must all look after. Children learn about the legacy left by pioneer explorers both land and maritime, cartographers and geographers including those from Muslim heritage.
Primary ICT
Children gain ICT skills throughout their learning, using common programmes such as Word, PowerPoint and Excel in their independent enquiries and to present their work to others. They learn to organise text, images, audio and video. They learn about the internet and social media, how to search, navigate and stay safe online.
Children at Shakhsiyah School London learning about reclaiming and restoring wooden benches for use outside the Masjid. They learnt about using sustainable materials, repairing to reduce waste, keeping our masajid beautiful and sourcing natural materials Allah has created for our use as opposed to man-made materials which often create toxins.
Year 3 learning about properties of different materials.
Year 5 and 6 making their own baked fossils as part of their lesson about fossil fuels and how they are derived from fossils.