Human Society and its’ Environment Policy
Policy Statement
Human Society and its environment encompasses how we as people interact with each other, culturally and socially and our physical environment, both natural and man made.Knowledge, understandings, attitudes and values in change and continuity, cultures, environments and social structures and structures are fundamental to the future well being of how we live and support sustainable environments.
Statement of Purpose
Human Society and Its Environment (HSIE) is a key learning area in which students are provided with the opportunity to develop knowledge, understandings, attitudes and values about people and their interrelationships with their environments.
The aim of the HSIE K – 6 Syllabus is ‘to develop in students the values and attitudes, skills and knowledge and understandings that:
* enhance their sense of personal, community, national and global identity;
* enable them to participate effectively in maintaining and improving the quality of their society and environment.’
(HSIE K – 6 Syllabus, NSW Board of Studies, pg8)
The HSIE K – 6 Syllabus has four strands:
- Change and Continuity
- Cultures
- Environments
- Social Systems and Structures
The three stages of development for K – 6 primary schools are:
- Early Stage 1 – Kindergarten
- Stage 1 – Years 1 and 2
- Stage 2 – Years 3 and 4
- Stage 3 – Years 5 and 6
Blaxland Public School will implement the syllabus, providing opportunities in learning that develop research skills and inquiry processes in the support of student learning in:
- Australian history and geography;
- Australian residents – their social, cultural, economic and political lives;
- Australians – their history and European influence
- Aboriginal Australia – Aboriginal people and the occupation of Australia
- Asia - Pacific Cultures
- world cultures
- values and attitudes relating to ecology, democracy, beliefs and moral codes
- the role of religion in societies
Effective Literacy Teaching and Learning
The four strands of the syllabus will be covered by Early Stage 1, Stage 1, Stage 2 and Stage 3 students K – 6.
Change and Continuity Significant events / people |
Cultures Identities |
Environments Patterns of place & location |
Social Systems & Structures Resource systems |
Early Stage 1 Units of study will include:
Term 1 |
Term 2 |
Term 3 |
Term 4 |
Early Stage 1 teachers will provide teaching and learning experiences about:
- life events and stages;
- families, family language, family groups, special events celebrated;
- people who meet our needs, personal / class needs;
- places in their immediate environment, environmental features, natural and man made features;
- experiences and interactions in their environment, care of their environment;
- changes in our lives – past and present, changes in their environment;
- family, school local national and global events;
- Aboriginal Dreaming stories;
- Australian and school symbols;
- community languages, body language;
- products – use and origin, money and
- school / class rules and routines.
Stage 1 Units of study will include:
Odd Years
Term 1 The Way We were |
Term 2 |
Term 3 |
Term 4 |
Even Years
Term 1 Families Past / Present |
Term 2 |
Term 3 |
Term 4 |
Stage 1 teachers will provide teaching and learning experiences about:
- other families / cultural characteristics of families, different languages, types of family structures;
- ways of communicating;
- customs and family / community practices, beliefs, functions of families and family activities;
- traditional and religious stories e.g. Aboriginal Dreamtime
- important people in our lives; roles / responsibilities of community workers;
- family, school and community rules and the purpose of rules
- other communities / similarities and differences, symbols use by different communities;
- origins of important days and holidays, how different communities express themselves culturally;
- past /present technologies;
- stages of a lifetime;
- responsibility, roles and rights in families;
- local, national and global events;
- Aboriginal people’s relationship to the land;
- the globe as a representation of Earth;
- language for location, position and direction, e.g. left, right, mountain, city;
- use of the students local area;
- natural, man made and heritage areas – locally
- how the environment adapts to meet needs;
- caring for the environment / resources – values and responsibilities;
- interconnections between technologies, workers, users and the environment;
- personal needs and wants;
- how we produce goods and services, money .
Stage 2 Units of study will include:
Year A
Term 1 British Colonisation of Australia |
Term 2 |
Term 3 |
Term 4 |
Year B
Term 1 Living in Communities |
Term 2 |
Term 3 |
Term 4 |
Year C
Term 1 Who Will Buy? |
Term 2 |
Term 3 |
Term 4 |
Stage 2 teachers will provide teaching and learning experiences about:
- Australian colonisation, James Cook and world exploration;
- establishment and life of a British Colony / significant people including Arthur Phillip, achievements;
- Aboriginal resistance / significant people including Pemulwuy / achievements;
- change as a result of colonisation, cause and effect;
- differing viewpoints on colonisation / community heritage;
- continuing and changing roles, traditions, practices and customs in the local community;
- origins and heritage of community members;
- original inhabitants of the local area, diversity within communities;
- family, school, local, national and global events and issues / symbols;
- community languages including Aboriginal languages;
- religious and spiritual places of significance in the local community;
- traditional and religious stories about significant people and entities of major world religions
- geographical language / terminology / north/ south / east / west / equator / North / South Pole etc;
- major customs and celebrations of religious and other community groups;
- significant natural, man made and heritage features in the local area, NSW and Australia / their uses;
- the location of major cities, rivers and mountains in New South Wales and the capital cities in Australia;
- local and other Australian communities;
- changes in environments;
- groups associated with places and features, including Aboriginal people;
- management and care of features, sites, places and environments;
- local government structure and processes;
- services and contributions made by community organisations and groups;
- rights and responsibilities of consumers and producers;
- use of technology in the exchange of money;
- roles and responsibilities of citizens in local government;
- decision making in and at school;
- conflict resolution within the classroom and the school;
- community services, availability of goods and facilities;
- technology / change in technology and how it effects environments and lifestyles;
- contributions of workers in communities including voluntary organisations.
Stage 3 Units of study will include:
Term 1 |
Term 2 |
Term 3 |
Term 4 |
Stage 3 teachers will provide teaching and learning experiences about:
- the development of democracy in Australia and worldwide, key events, key figures;
- the shaping of the Australian identity / the discovery of gold, colonial exploration and expansion;
- Australian achievements at a global level past and present;
- human rights issues in Australia, past and present, including the stolen generations;
- origins of dedicated days such as Anzac day, Australia Day, Remembrance Day etc;
- national days such as NAIDOC Day, Wattle Day etc;
- Aboriginal democratic practices before British colonisation;
- family, school, local, national and global events, issues, problems and trends;
- cultural influences and other factors affecting identity, e.g. peer pressure, popular culture;
- cultural diversity in Australia and globally;
- national symbols such as flags, poems, songs, anthem, colours, coat of arms etc;
- significant sites such as Uluru, Sydney Harbour Bridge, Opera House, Snowy Mountains Scheme;
- current events and their influences;
- origins of place names and other words and expressions, colloquial words as a result of culture;
- global communication;
- traditions, belief systems and practices of Australians, including celebrations;
- traditions, belief systems and practices of Australia as compared with those of at least one other nation in the Asia-Pacific region;
- physical, political and cultural regions/ main reference points in Australia, the world, including the continents and some capital cities;
- geographical terminology, e.g. latitude, longitude;
- Australian and Global regions and environments;
- human involvement and use of environments, e.g. Aboriginal land management practices;
- Changes in environment due to human and natural influences;
- The development of environments that is ecologically sustainable;
- different perspectives about the maintenance and improvement of environments;
- Case studies of natural / man made / heritage sites globally;
- explanations of natural phenomena and the environment in Aboriginal Dreaming stories;
- global interrelationships and interdependence such as communications, trade, international human rights agreements and organisations;
- money exchange and the involvement of organisations;
- Australian imports and exports;
- changes in work practices and industry in Australia, e.g. the impact of technology;
- rights and responsibilities of Australian citizenship and global citizenship;
- rights and responsibilities of users and producers of goods and services globally;
- organisations that support employers and workers, e.g. associations, federations, unions
- state and federal government / how laws are made and changed / electoral processes;
- community, school and class decision-making and democratic processes;
- contributions of groups, movements, policies and laws to the development of fairness and social justice in Australia.
Blaxland Public School will;
- provide continuing teacher professional development in order to develop understandings about HSIE and the knowledge and skills to apply appropriate strategies in the classroom;
- provide for consistency in student learning through a planned whole school approach;
- identify individual student needs through ongoing assessment;
- provide in class support for students experiencing learning difficulties;
- provide meaningful learning situations in which students acquire knowledge and understandings through inquiry processes, discussion and research;
- provide positive and constructive feedback for students, affirming what they know and where to next;
- opportunities to review whole or part of the learning cycle;
- review and organise school resources to ensure their appropriateness for optimal learning and teaching in HSIE;
- evaluate the whole-school HSIE program as part of school planning, to measure the progress being made in the achievement of HSIE outcomes and
- report to parents on learning achievements using the standards framework of syllabus outcomes.
Students will:
- participate constructively in teaching and learning activities;
- be part of planning for their future learning directions and
- be responsible for their own belongings required for their learning tasks as required by the class teacher, for e.g. pens, sharp pencils, texts etc
Parents will:
- support their child with any class requirements such as, project development, pens, pencils, texts etc as suggested by the class teacher.