Monksmead School

Respect, Reflect, Believe, Succeed

Geography

 

Intent

At Monksmead, we pride ourselves on our creative learning environment and classroom displays. The geography curriculum at Monksmead makes full use of resources within immediate and wider local area enabling the children to create a curiosity and fascination of about the world and the people who live in it.

Topics are informed by the national curriculum and are sensitive to children’s interests, as well as the context of the local area. The geography curriculum has been carefully planned and structured to ensure the current learning is linked to previous learning and prepares children for their next step. In line with the national curriculum (2014), our aim is to ensure all pupils; have knowledge of where places are and what they are like, an understanding of human and physical environments, an extensive base of geographical knowledge and vocabulary, be fluent in geographical enquiry and the ability to apply questioning skills and presentational techniques, the ability to reach clear conclusions and develop a reasoned argument to explain findings. We also aim to ensure all children have developed and utilised fieldwork and other geographical skills and techniques.

 

Implementation

Our curriculum is shaped by our whole school vision which aims to produce curious learners who are well equipped with the skills and resilience to overcome challenges they may face in an ever-changing world. Our Geography teaching is progressively planned to help children understand the world around them, and to celebrate its’ diversity.

 

We teach the National Curriculum, supported by a clear skills and knowledge progression set by CUSP (Curriculum with Unity Schools), but we supplement this with additional work to support and suit the needs of our Monksmead children , for example from PlanBee.  Our Geography curriculum ensures skills and knowledge are built on year by year and sequenced appropriately to maximise learning for all children, and we make links between years and subjects explicit to the children. It is a high quality and ambitious curriculum supported by high-quality images and diagrams to enrich and inspire learning. In KS1 and KS2, geography is taught in focused teaching sessions that sit within a curriculum sequence built around the principles of interleaving and spaced retrieval practice. This ensures full coverage across the whole school.

 

It is important that children develop the skills of a geographer by fully immersing them in all areas of the subject, and the vocabulary associated with it. Our children will be given a variety of experiences both in and out of the classroom where appropriate to create memorable learning opportunities and to further support and develop their understanding.

Impact

The intended impact of the teaching and learning of Geography at Monksmead School follows our school drivers:

  • Self-Awareness – Our children will learn lessons from Geography to influence the decisions they make in their lives in the future. Children will be aware of the impact their actions can have on the community and environment.
  • Embrace differences – Emphasis is placed on analytical thinking and questioning, and children demonstrate a coherent knowledge and understanding of our world and the people who live in it. Children will respect the work of others and demonstrate respect.
  • Ambitious to take the next step – Children will understand and use their key skills, they will have an excellent understanding of human and physical environments and how they are interrelated, an extensive base of geographical vocabulary, be fluent in enquiry, questioning and presentational skills, the ability to reach conclusions supported with a reasoned argument to explain findings and have used and developed fieldwork skills and techniques. In addition, children will be confident in their learning, curious to know more about the world and ready for their next step.
  • Worldy-Wise – Children will know more, remember more and understand more about Geography. They will adopt a personal enjoyment and enthusiasm for learning about the world whether this is at school, in future education or at home.