AIMS

At St Marie’s we work as geographers. Link to National Curriculum GEOGRAPHY

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-geography-programmes-ofstudy 

INTENT

St Marie’s Catholic Primary School: How do we teach Geography? At St Marie’s Catholic Primary School our Geography curriculum is designed to inspire a curiosity and fascination about the world and its’ people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. At St Marie’s, geography education is inclusive to every child and equips them with knowledge about places, people, resources and the Earth’s key natural and human environments and processes (the 2014 Primary National Curriculum in England). We are committed to providing children with opportunities to investigate and make enquiries about their local area of Standish and Manchester so that they can develop of real sense of who they are, their heritage and what makes our local area unique and special. Through high quality teaching, we develop the following essential characteristics of geographers: 

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An excellent knowledge of where places are and what they are like, both in Britain and the wider 

• To develop in children the skills of interpreting a range of sources of geographical information, including maps, diagrams, globes, aerial photographs and Geographical Information Systems (GIS). 

•  To help children understand how the human and physical features of a place shapes it location and can change over time. 

•  An of geographical knowledge and vocabulary; 

• 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.

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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 termly topic, focusing on knowledge and skills stated in the National Curriculum. At St Marie’s Primary School, we ensure that geography has the same importance given to it as the core subjects, as we feel this is important in enabling all children to gain ‘real-life’ experiences. The geography curriculum at St Marie’s 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. Teachers plan lessons for their class using our progression of knowledge and skills document. The progression document ensures the curriculum is covered and the skills/knowledge taught is progressive from year group to year group. Geography teaching focuses on enabling children to think as geographers. A variety of teaching approaches are used based on the teacher’s judgement and Blooms taxonomy is used to plan for differentiated tasks to allow all pupils to access the curriculum. At St Marie’s, Primary School we provide a variety of opportunities for geography learning inside and outside the classroom. Educational visits are another opportunity for the teachers to plan for additional geography learning outside the classroom. At St Marie’s Primary School, the children have had many opportunities to experience geography on educational visits. The children have explored the local area including orienteering within the school grounds and conducting transport studies and developed map-reading skills in the Lake District. Local museums also provide an opportunity to further geography learning, as well as trips around the local area. Eg. Around Standish and visits to local businesses. The children also access appropriate curriculum themed home learning tasks, which children complete with adults at home. 

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IMPACT

Within geography, we strive to create a supportive and collaborative ethos for learning by providing investigative and enquiry based learning opportunities. Emphasis is placed on investigative learning opportunities to help children gain a coherent knowledge of understanding of each unit of work covered throughout the school. Our geography curriculum is high quality, well thought out and is planned to demonstrate progression. We focus on progression of knowledge and skills and discreet vocabulary progression also form part of the units of work. Children will deepen their understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes and how this affects landscapes and environments. We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods: 

• Assessing children’s understanding of topic after the unit is taught. 

•  Images and videos of the children’s practical learning.  

• Interviewing the pupils about their learning (pupil voice). 

• Moderation staff meetings where pupil’s books are scrutinised and there is the opportunity for a dialogue between teachers to understand their class’s work. 

•  Annual reporting of standards across the curriculum. 

• Marking of written work in books.