Geography
Geography teaches us where we come from and how we fit into a global world.
Beehive Lane Geography Curriculum
Intent
Our Geography curriculum is designed to be a relevant, topical and challenging which has a good progression and sequence of skills and knowledge to develop awe and wonder and engagement for every single child, regardless of their individual characteristics, circumstances or disadvantage. British values, SMSC, and the school values of commitment, aspiration, respect and enjoyment and the underpinning principles.
Our curriculum meets and exceeds the expectations set out by the national curriculum, the topics taught are linked together and the children have a chance to develop a deep understanding of a topic which allows them to practice the skills in an engaging way. A variety of strategies are used such as debate, map work, field work, research, drama and problem solving to ensure the children at Beehive Lane become highly effective learners and engaged, local, national and global citizens.
Each topic begins with a starting point to engage pupils and give purpose to the children’s learning, these include debates, discussion, real issues and challenges. Each year group’s curriculum is carefully planned to develop skills such as confidence, resilience, respect and thinking skills through problem solving, debate and discussion. They build towards identified end points which build upon what has been taught before. This enables purposeful and deep learning experiences which prepare children for the next stage of learning.
Each topic is carefully planned to ensure the children are using the correct grammatical and technical vocabulary to expand and develop their language skills.
National Curriculum - Geography
Implementation
High expectations through the development of excellent attitudes to learning of all pupils and staff is the key to highly effective learning at Beehive Lane. This constantly developed through assemblies.
Geography is taught in topics and where appropriate link to other topics to depend their understanding and give the learning a purpose. Consideration is given to how greater depth will be taught, learnt and demonstrated within each lesson, as well as how learners will be supported in line with the school’s commitment to inclusion.
Assessment is carried out regularly and the children are fed back to in a variety of ways such as written and oral feedback. This is designed to support learners and extend and deepen their understanding of the knowledge or skills they are acquiring. A key success in teaching and learning at Beehive Lane is ‘in the moment’ assessment for learning as lessons are in action, through questioning, checking for misconceptions and understanding, refocusing learning, challenging/extending or supporting learning at the time.
The following approaches of implementing learning at Beehive Lane is to enable long term memory and deeper understanding. Working with partners and out local community to ensure a wide range of specialist and enriching experiences and leaning respect for others.
- Practical field work in a real setting such as on a local walk, both day and residential trips, within our school grounds and our forest school area.
- Homework linked to topics where children are encouraged to have a choice in what they are researching
- Visits from outside agencies to deepen and broaden the children’s knowledge and understanding.
- Geography skills used in other subjects allow children to reapply their previous knowledge further embedding their knowledge to greater depth.
- A programme of orienteering tasks are also in place to allow children other opportunities for collaborative work and problem solving whilst further extending their skills.
Impact
The impact is measured in terms of the progress the children make from their starting points and the attainment levels they reach. The aim is for all children to achieve exceptionally well (including disadvantaged and SEN) in their geographical knowledge and skills as well as understanding their impact on the local and global environments. An impact of good quality teaching and learning in Geography is that the children develop an interest in the world around them and develop the skills and knowledge to solve problems and deepen their understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes and how this affects landscapes and environments.
The aim is for all children to have thoroughly enjoyed learning about geography at our school and therefore encouraging them to undertake new life experiences now and in the future.
Useful links