Children explore different ways living things can be grouped and make classification keys. They study ways that habitats may change over time and understand that humans can have both positive and negative effects on their surroundings.

In this unit, pupils build on their understanding of Brahman and look at lived reality through examining Puja at home, worship in the mandir and the festival of Diwali. Pupils will reflect on the idea of dharma through two stories which will sow the seeds for examining this concept in more depth in UKS2.

Watch the video below as an introduction to this unit.

Pupils are introduced to the concepts of sustainability and sustainable development through a number of examples that will be familiar to them in their everyday lives, such as recycling and ‘bags for life’ at supermarkets. From these familiar examples, the pupils progress gradually to reflect upon the concept of a resource and how these can be renewable and infinite or non-renewable and finite. From this foundation the pupils are encouraged to consider their own lives and what they currently do as individuals and at home as a family to be more sustainable.

The school community is the next focus of the investigation. The pupils are given the opportunity to survey the school’s level of sustainability against a number of categories and to identify priorities for development in an Action Plan. The scale and context of the enquiry then moves to a national level with the pupils considering why the UK Government is looking to massively increase the contribution of renewable energy, such as solar and wind, to the generation of electricity.