"Geography is the study of Earth as the home of people."
At St. Michael’s Church of England Primary School, our Geography curriculum is designed to develop children’s curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. Children investigate a range of places – both in Britain and abroad – to help develop their knowledge and understanding of the Earth’s physical and human processes. We are committed to providing children with opportunities to investigate and make enquiries about their local area of Cornwall so that they can develop of real sense of who they are, their heritage and what makes our local area unique and special. We also developing the children’s ability to apply geographical skills to enable to confidently communicate their findings and geographical understanding to a range of audiences.
Through high quality teaching, we develop the following essential characteristics of geographers:
- An excellent knowledge of where places are and what they are like, both in Britain and the wider world;
- A comprehensive understanding of the ways in which places are interdependent and interconnected;
- An extensive base of geographical knowledge and vocabulary;
- Fluency in complex, geographical enquiry and the ability to apply questioning skills, as well as effective presentation techniques;
- The ability to reach clear conclusions and explain their findings;
- Excellent fieldwork skills as well as other geographical aptitudes and techniques;
- The ability to express well-balanced opinions, rooted in very good knowledge and understanding about current issues in society and the environment;
- A genuine interest in the subject and a real sense of curiosity about the world and the people who live here.
IMPLEMENTATION:
To ensure high standards of teaching and learning in geography, we implement a curriculum that is progressive throughout the whole school. Geography is taught as part of a half-termly topic, focusing on knowledge and skills stated in the National Curriculum. The geography curriculum at St Michael’s Church of England Primary School is based upon the 2014 Primary National Curriculum in England, which provides a broad framework and outlines the knowledge and skills and taught in each Key Stage. On the re-design of our curriculum, teachers worked in collaboration to ensure knowledge of skills were explicitly and progressively built into sequences of lessons. In addition, there has been designated staff meeting time to ensure that there is cohesive progression, which takes into consideration the captivation of pupils.
As part of this planning process, teachers need to plan the following:
- A knowledge organiser which outlines knowledge (including vocabulary) all children must master and apply in lessons;
- A cycle of lessons for each subject, which carefully plans for progression and depth concentrating on the geographical skills suited to the age group through enquiry;
- Challenging questions for pupils to apply their learning in a philosophical/open manner
- Trips/fieldwork and visiting experts who will enhance the learning experience;
- Encouragement of home research and praise/rewards of completion.
IMPACT:
Children will have developed the geographical knowledge and skills to help them explore, navigate and understand the world around them and their place in it. Children’s knowledge and skills will develop progressively as they move through the school, not only to enable them to meet the requirements of the National Curriculum but to prepare them to become competent geographers in secondary education. In addition, we measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:
- Short term: a reflection on standards achieved against the planned outcomes;
- Long term; children who enjoy their learning in Geography and able to discus, with enthusiasm, their lessons and take their learning forward in life.