Geography
'The future of humanity and indeed all life on earth, now depends on us.'
Sir David Attenborough.
Intent
Our Geography curriculum is designed to develop children’s curiosity and a fascination about our planet and its people. As the stewards of God's creation, we want the children to know that the sustainability of our planet is their responsibility. We want them to gain the courage to become adventurous explorers who will follow St. Brendan's journey 'beyond the familiar and into the unknown'. We aim to nurture our young geographers and equip them with the knowledge and skills that they will need to become mindful, inquisitive citizens of the world. Our intention is to progressively build on their strong personal geographies from our local area and expose them to provocative samples of the wonderful geographical delights within reach of their locality. Their world study gives them an understanding of how communities are connected which develops appreciation for the wider world and a strong sense of themselves within it. We have designed the curriculum in collaboration with Julia Tanner, an honorary member of the Geographical Association who has helped us to create our vision to widen our children's curiosities and give them the courage to explore their limitless possibilities in the world in which we live.
Implementation
All of our children investigate a range of places – from their locality, Britain and the wider world. This will develop their knowledge and understanding of place through physical and human processes.
We are committed to providing children with opportunities to investigate and make enquiries about their local area of Bradford within West Yorkshire and how we are connected to the wider world. This develops a real sense of who they are, their heritage and what makes our local area unique and special. Through educational visits, we aim to bring learning to life to give children experiences to inspire a lifelong interest in geography.
In each topic studied, the children have a wide range of opportunities to apply geographical skills that enable them to confidently communicate their findings to a range of audiences. Their knowledge and skills are built upon progressively as they journey through school.
Children have learning maps that show what they will learn in each unit of work. Previous learning is retrieved so that they build up new learning on firm foundations. Every lesson starts with an enquiry question and understanding is checked within the lesson to maximise their next steps to progress their learning.
The children's cultural capital is developed through the storyworlds of Lyfta. This package enhances the lessons as they are transported around the world for an immersive experience from their place of study or a contrasting locality. This study of current issues ignites a sense of curiosity about different places and the people who live there.
Technology plays a huge part in our children’s learning and is used to motivate and accelerate their progress. Children are encouraged to take learning into their own hands using digimaps, atlases, globes, and resources as well as drawing upon and sharing their own experiences.
Through ongoing assessments, teachers monitor the learning by checking for understanding in the moment, at the point of learning. We address misconceptions quickly and offer deep teaching support where needed. We make links to prior learning, monitor the learning of pupils in the lessons and allow children to demonstrate what they have learnt at the end of each unit.
The teachers’ expectations for geography work is just as high as all other subjects, children are challenged to always achieve the best of their ability. Higher level geographers are challenged to extend their knowledge and work is adapted appropriately for children with SEN to allow them to access and make small steps in learning at their level.
Impact
Our geography curriculum is planned carefully to demonstrate clear progression. By the time they leave school they will:
- Have an excellent understanding of the physical and human features of places around the world.
- Be able to draw upon a sound and extensive base of geographical knowledge and vocabulary.
- Be able to make links and use their knowledge in other areas of the curriculum.
- Have an excellent understanding of how places are interdependent and interconnected and how much the human and physical environments are interrelated.
- The children will demonstrate a range of enquiry skills. They will demonstrate an enquiring mind and present clear conclusions from their findings to a range of audiences.
- Had opportunities to carry out a range of fieldwork both on and off site and benefitted from school visitors and subject experts to further enhance their knowledge , curiosity and love of the subject.
- The children will be able to demonstrate a genuine enthusiasm for the subject having acquired a solid foundation of skills on knowledge. This foundation will be a strong base to continue to build upon as they move into KS3 with a real curiosity to discover more about the amazingly diverse and beautiful world that God has created for them to live in.
framework for progression in mapwork.pdf