Geography
Our ambition for every learner:
Our Geography curriculum is designed to develop children’s curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives.
Children investigate a range of places – both in Britain and abroad – to help develop their knowledge and understanding of the Earth’s physical and human processes. We are committed to providing children with opportunities to investigate and make enquiries about their local area of Northolt so that they can develop of 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 to confidently communicate their findings and geographical understanding to a range of audiences.
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 interdependent and interconnected;
- An extensive base of geographical knowledge and vocabulary;
- Fluency in complex, geographical enquiry and the ability to apply questioning skills, as well as effective presentation techniques;
- 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
What we do to achieve these ambitions:
The curriculum is planned as part of our bespoke curriculum for our school community. It includes:
- A knowledge organiser which outlines knowledge (including vocabulary, key diagrams, maps and places) all children must master
- A cycle of lessons for each subject, which carefully plans for progression and depth
- Many opportunities for hands on learning to support long term memory through first hand observations and sensory stimulus
- Many opportunities for children to make their own decisions and drawing their own conclusions using vocabulary in full sentences and relevant terms
- Many opportunities for children to link their learning to the other curriculum areas in that term
- Retrieval grids for every topic that are used regularly to support learners’ ability to recap key concepts and facts; increase space in the working memory and link what’s previously been taught and what comes next
- Challenge questions for pupils to apply their learning in a philosophical/open manner
- Trips and visits from experts who will enhance the learning experience.
How we measure our success:
Our Geography Curriculum is high quality, well thought out and is planned to demonstrate progression. We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:
- A reflection on standards achieved against the planned outcomes
- A celebration of learning for each term which demonstrates progression across the school;
- Using retrieval grids to check long term memory application
- Using knowledge organisers to check back on what the children have learned and how they recall and explain vocabulary, facts
- Pupil discussions about their learning using the class learning journey boards and their books as visual aids
For more information on the programmes of study for Geography click below: