Geography Statement of Intent
Intent
At St Alban’s Primary school, we follow the National Curriculum Geography programmes of study and we aim to inspire children's curiosity and fascination about the world they live in. Our Geography curriculum will enable children to be confident in asking questions about the world around them, to develop their knowledge and understanding. Geography is an exciting, enquiry led subject that helps us better understand places and people; resources in the environment; physical and human processes and land use. The children will develop geographical skills; collecting and analysing data, using maps, globes and photographs, locating countries, continents and oceans. Children will also develop their love of learning about the world through fieldwork and educational visits. We are committed to providing children with opportunities to investigate and make enquiries about their local area of Hornchurch and its surrounding areas so that they can develop a real sense of who they are, their heritage and what makes our local area unique and special.
We also develop the children’s ability to apply geographical skills to enable them to confidently communicate their findings and geographical understanding. 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 both independent yet connected.
· A vast and secure base of geographical knowledge and vocabulary.
· An ability to carry out geographical enquiry and the ability to apply questioning skills, as well as effective ways of sharing their findings.
· The ability to reach clear conclusions and explain their findings.
· Excellent fieldwork skills as well as other geographical aptitudes and techniques.
· The ability to begin to express well-balanced opinions, rooted in very good knowledge and understanding about current issues in their 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.
The National Curriculum will provide a structure and skill development for the geography curriculum being taught throughout the school, which is now linked, where possible to our topics.
What are the attitudes we want to foster?
- To develop positive attitudes for Geography that will start from the time they join the school and will follow into secondary education and beyond.
- To develop a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people, which will remain with them for the rest of their lives.
- As in all areas of school life we will always encourage open-mindedness, self-assessment, perseverance and responsibility in Geography.
- Giving children opportunities to work both as part of a team as well as independently
Implementation
Our Geography curriculum gives pupils the opportunity to develop an understanding of aspects of both Human and Physical geography from a topic approach. Pupils will continually revisit key geographical skills which build and develop during their time at our school. Opportunities, such as visits to our local country parks and walks around our local area are provided. Additionally, the curriculum will offer pupils the chance to investigate and develop an understanding of the world beyond the local area to include the whole world. Where possible, observation and fieldwork skills are embedded throughout the topics. Key and specialist vocabulary for geography themes is taught and built up, and effective questioning is both used and encouraged to communicate ideas effectively. We endeavour to ensure that the Geography curriculum we provide will give children the confidence and motivation to continue to further develop their skills into the next stage of their education and life experiences. Evidence of geography and the development of children’s geographical knowledge should be recorded regularly in topic books. Geography lessons are a balanced mix of knowledge and vocabulary based, observations, fieldwork and practical lessons.
Impact
Our Geography Curriculum is clearly designed with topic plans that contain clearly defined and ambitious aims for what pupils should know and by when. Assessment of Geography aims to evaluate progress and attainment in all areas of Geography education: Locational Knowledge, Place Knowledge, Human and Physical geography and Geographical skills and Fieldwork.
The geographical knowledge must be assessed through ongoing teacher assessments and recorded on the skills progression grid once an assessment is complete. Evidence of Geography and the development of children’s geographical knowledge should be recorded regularly in topic books. Pupils will be able to carry out field work recording their findings using a variety of methodologies. They will become proficient at expressing their understanding of the world and where they are situated through their locational knowledge. They will be able to evaluate and analyse the effects of Humans on their environment, both positively and negatively. Pupils will know how to use atlases, globes and digital mapping including using grid references and they will understand how a compass functions. Additionally, they will understand how Geographical knowledge has helped to develop the world as it is today.
Our Assessment Policy meets the needs of our pupils, parents, staff and curriculum. The school’s assessment policy outlines how often children are assessed. There are three main forms of assessment in our school:
- Day-to-day formative assessment- to inform teaching on an ongoing basis.
- In-school summative assessment- to understand pupil performance at the end of term of teaching.
- National statutory summative assessment – to understand pupil performance in relation to national expectations.
At St Alban’s, we use assessment to inform our planning and teaching in order provide the best possible education for each and every child. The children are the heart of our school, and we want every child to ‘Reach their Personal Best.’
Inspired by God's love, we celebrate our gifts as we learn and grow together