Intent
At Moorhill, we value Geography.
WE ARE ALL GEOGRAPHERS!
Our geography curriculum inspires and develops children’s curiosity and fascination about the world and its people, which will remain with them for the rest of their lives. We want to equip them with not only the minimum statutory requirements of the geography National Curriculum but to prepare them for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life.
Children build upon, prior learning using knowledge, skills and vocabulary, to 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 have used the Opening Worlds as a basis of our Geography teaching and Moorhill use this as a vehicle to teach the skills needed to be a confident geographer. It has been used to outline the skills which the children need to learn to progress in their knowledge and understanding of Geography. The Opening Worlds Curriculum provides clear progression in skills which have been broken down into Year group specific skills in our own school progression document.
At Moorhill, we firmly believe that it is not just about what happens in the classroom, it is about the added value we offer to really inspire our children.
Implementation
Opening Worlds
Children are taught a cycle of lessons, which carefully plans for progression and depth concentrating on the geographical skills suited to the age group. Teachers plan and deliver challenging questions for pupils to apply learning in a philosophical/open manner which allow children to ‘go deeper’ into their learning and understanding. The geography curriculum has been carefully built and the learning opportunities and assessment milestones for each year group crafted to ensure progression and repetition in terms of embedding key learning, knowledge and skills.
Trips and visiting experts who will enhance the learning experience are planned into the curriculum and appropriate curriculum themed home learning tasks which children complete with adults at home are set periodically. Quizzes with the children at the beginning of their unit of learning to enable them to revisit their prior learning, be confident articulating their new learning and see what their learning will take them as they move through school. This will develop knowledge of the purpose of their learning and where they sit upon their journey.
We believe that by creating our curriculum this way, we improve the potential for our children to retain what they have been taught, to alter their long-term memory and thus improve the rates of progress they make.
We enrich their time in our school with memorable, unforgettable experiences and provide opportunities which are normally out of reach – this piques their interests and passions. For example, our KS1 children will receive a visit this year from a member of the RNLI to discuss their role in patrolling our shores and saving lives. Our pupils learn about this important work and the coastal areas they cover. Classes in KS2 visit the National Space Centre and come face to face with astronauts, learn how exploration ports are located , and discover the Solar System – The Earth and beyond!
We are committed to providing children with opportunities to investigate and make enquiries about their local area of Cannock Chase and Staffordshire so that they can develop of real sense of who they are, their heritage and what makes our local area unique and special. We want our children to use the vibrancy of our great town to learn from other cultures, respect diversity, co-operate with one another and appreciate what they have.
Impact
At Moorhill, the geography curriculum is high quality, well thought out and is planned to demonstrate progression. We focus on progression of knowledge and skills and discreet vocabulary progression also form part of the units of work. Children will deepen their understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes and how this affects landscapes and environments.
By the time children leave Moorhill Primary school they will:
- Have an excellent knowledge of where places are and what they are like.
- Have an excellent understanding of the ways in which places are interdependent and interconnected and how much human and physical environments are interrelated.
- Have an extensive base of geographical knowledge and vocabulary.
- Be fluent in complex, geographical enquiry and the ability to apply questioning skills anduse effective analytical and presentational techniques.
- Have the ability to reach clear conclusions and develop a reasoned argument to explain findings.
- Have significant levels of originality, imagination or creativity as shown in interpretations and representations of the subject matter.
- Be highly developed and frequently utilised fieldwork and other geographical skills and techniques.
- Have a passion for and commitment to the subject, and a real sense of curiosity to find out about the world and the people who live there.
- Have the ability to express well-balanced opinions, rooted in very good knowledge and understanding about current and contemporary issues in society and the environment.
We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:
- Assessing children’s understanding of topic linked vocabulary before and after the unit is taught.
- Summative assessment of pupil discussions about their learning.
- Images and videos of the children’s practical learning.
- Interviewing the pupils about their learning (pupil voice).
- Moderation staff meetings where pupil’s books are scrutinised and there is the opportunity for a dialogue between teachers to understand their class’s work.
- Annual reporting of standards across the curriculum.
- Marking of written work in books.
Learners with Special Educational Needs
At Moorhill, we scaffold and adapt the learning to enable all learners to succeed.
Learning is adapted through:
- Explicit teaching and modelling
- Scaffolded resources
- The use of concrete manipulatives
- Pictorial examples and representations
- Use of technological resources to support learning
- Frequent revisiting of skills
- Adult support
