Geography

At Bushbury Lane Academy, 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.

Intent

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 Wolverhampton so that they can develop of real sense of who they are, their heritage and what makes our local area unique and special. 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:

Knowledge of where places are and what they are like, both in Britain and the wider world;
An extensive base of geographical knowledge and vocabulary;
Fluency in 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;
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.

Implementation

Teachers will follow the cornerstones curriculum. Support to do this will be provided through CPD, staff meetings and model lessons. Geography is taught through designated blocks with many opportunities for interdisciplinary learning.

Teachers are provided with support to plan their curriculum through our school’s CPD offer, inset days and staff meetings. Geography is taught in geography blocks based on the Cornerstones Curriculum Knowledge Based Learning Projects. Geographical skills are taught in detail and recapped and built on as children progress through the school. It is also linked to 11 before 11 (11 specific enrichment activities that all children in REAch2 schools participate in during their journey through primary school). The following 11 before 11 promises link to Geography: seeds to supper, messing about on the water, hiking heroes and crossing a border.

To facilitate this learning process, teachers plan the following:

A sequence of learning which builds on prior knowledge, skills and understanding;
Opportunities to explore, understand and use technical vocabulary related to geography;
A well thought out sequence of lessons for each subject that results in progression and depth;
Trips that enhance the learning experience.
A means to display and celebrate the pupils’ work in their class and finally a way to share their learning with parents and the local community.

Impact

Our Geography Curriculum is high quality, well sequenced to ensure progression of knowledge and skills. Pupils are enthusiastic about their geography learning.

In addition, we measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:

Knowledge and skill progression grids for each year group. This ensures that the teachers have an understanding as to what knowledge and skills the pupils should have and what the next steps are. This will ensure that gaps are filled.
Pupils take pride in their books. Books show high quality work. Pupils can discuss their work confidently.
Pre and post assessments show progress and successful teaching.

Otrack is used to assess outcomes. Teachers will be aware of pupils who need further challenging and those that will need further intervention.
School will be able to analyse the data and identify trends and act accordingly.