Curriculum Area - Geography

Mrs K Mannion (Infant School) and Miss C Balaam (Junior School) are our Geography Curriculum Leaders.

Intent

We believe that Geography helps to provoke and provide answers to questions about the natural and human aspects of the world. Children are encouraged to develop a greater understanding and knowledge of the world, as well as their place in it and their responsibility for it.

Geography is, by nature, an investigative subject, which develops an understanding of concepts, knowledge and skills. We seek to inspire in children a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people which will remain with them for the rest of their lives; to promote the children’s interest and understanding of diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes. 

Implementation

Learning overviews have been created for every topic covered during the year (one per term). The plans identify:

• The core theme which is used as the basis for cross-curricular learning
• The ‘hook’ to inspire the learning for that topic
• The main subjects and knowledge areas to be covered in relation to the theme
• Key Skills to be covered during the unit of work

Teachers refer to the EYFS curriculum, the National Curriculum Programmes of Study and Key Skills and other relevant guidance including our long term overviews. Topic guides are shared with parents to inform them of the learning that their child will experience that term.

Medium Term Planning

For Foundation Subjects, a sequence of core lesson objectives have been identified to be covered as part of their theme. Teachers are encouraged to be flexible, and may choose to stagger or block lessons as they feel is most appropriate to the needs and interests of their class.

Weekly Planning includes:

• Specific learning goals and learning outcomes/success criteria, clearly showing progression in learning and skills across the week or block of work.
• Core learning goal, key skills areas and success criteria (differentiated skills descriptors)
• Outline teaching input
• Outline differentiated tasks for groups of children
• Assessment for learning opportunities

Our Distance Marking Sheets (DMS) allow space for annotation, which teachers use to make assessment notes and identify their guided groups for the following day’s lessons.

Curriculum Enrichment

From Foundation Stage through to Year 6, opportunities will be taken to extend and enrich the curriculum beyond the statutory requirements through:

• the use of the school grounds, the locality and the wider environment;
• themed weeks, e.g. STEM week, Arts Week
• educational visits;
• drama workshops and other visitors, e.g. police and fire service
• support of parents.

Learning Outside the Classroom

There are numerous benefits to Learning Outside the Classroom for all our children, including those with Special Educational Needs, such as:

• Consolidating learning through real life, practical activities
• Aiding transition to new places and situations
• Increasing motivation and willingness to learn
• Developing confidence and self-awareness
• Developing social and communication skills
• Meeting different challenges and becoming more independent
• Demonstrating achievement – through awards, displays and presentations

Work that takes place outside of the classroom can provide a very powerful means of developing learning in all curriculum areas, and thus can raise attainment.

At Chalfont St Giles Village School we provide learning opportunities for the needs of individual children of all genders from all ethnic and social groups, including the most able and those who are experiencing learning difficulties. We aim to enable all pupils to make progress by setting suitable learning challenges and responding to each child’s different needs. Assessment against the National Curriculum allows us to consider each child’s attainment and progress against expected levels.

Impact

We strive to ensure that our children’s attainment and progress in core and foundation subjects is in line with or exceeding their potential when we consider the varied starting points of children. We measure this carefully using a range of materials, but always considering Age Related Expectations. We review progress twice a year to ensure that we are tracking each child so that we can take swift action if there are changes in the rate of progress. We intend that the impact is that children will be academically and physically prepared for the next stage of their education and ready for life in Modern Britain and the world. As children progress throughout the school, they develop a deep knowledge, understanding and appreciation of their local area and its place within the wider geographical context.