Geography
At Danesfield we aim to inspire children to raise and answer questions about the natural and human world and their involvement within this. Our exciting curriculum is coherently planned and sequenced, successfully adapted, designed and developed for all children and underpinned by current research. More specifically, we intend to:
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Use enquiry-based teaching. By adopting a pupil-centred approach, children make sense of new information and construct geographical knowledge and skills. By the time children leave in year 6, they will understand that geographical knowledge is constructed and how it came to be part of the world. Enquiry-based teaching enables us to challenge children beyond learning discrete facts, towards making connections, applying knowledge and questioning ideas. This ensures that children are actively engaged, as they make sense of the world around them.
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Teach with the understanding that the three aims of the National Curriculum: Geographical Knowledge, Geographical Understanding, Geographical skills and enquiry, are highly connected and interdependent.
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Make real life and relevant cross-curricular links so that by the end of year 6, children demonstrate how their geographical skills can be applied in and outside of the classroom.
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Enhance teacher’s pedagogical content knowledge and use technology to inspire learning opportunities for children.
Danesfield teachers are passionate about our shared vision and intentions for our geography curriculum. We implement our intentions by:
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Keeping marking and feedback as ‘live’ as possible to address misconceptions in the moment.
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Regularly asking children about their own experiences, enabling them to make links between what they already know and new knowledge and skills.
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Ensuring that children learn about their responsibilities to protect our local and global environments. By the time they leave in year 6, they will demonstrate that they can openly discuss and debate how we are all interconnected and interdependent with people and ecosystems throughout the world.
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Starting each topic with a question. Children will have ownership of their learning, allowing them to consider what they would like to learn, as well as linking to prior knowledge.
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Ensuring skills progress through the year groups and by the time children leave in year 6, they will evidence development in key skills in all geographical areas across the curriculum.
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Technology will be used to bring geographical learning to life and engage children in a whole host of ways.
By teaching inspiring geography, we believe that we are achieving the best possible outcomes for all children. The impact of our teaching is evident in different ways.
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Impact is evidenced through book looks and short visits and progress is highly visible across the year groups.
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Attainment and progress are partly measured through summative assessments which are carried out termly, using teacher-based assessments.
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Children will demonstrate an understanding of their own responsibilities with regards to the environment in the future.
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By the time children leave in Year 6, our sequential curriculum has built the knowledge, skills and geographical understanding. They will be able to reflect on how their learning and where they are heading next.
