Geography here at Morpeth All Saints...

At Morpeth All Saints our History and Geography lessons are skills based and knowledge-rich. Our yearly overview illustrates the extensive coverage of the curriculum which is inter-woven with a bespoke progression of knowledge and skills to take our children beyond the National Curriculum. Throughout the year and across the phases, pupils are able to build upon pre-existing learning by revisiting certain areas of study and experience new learning to enable pupils to consolidate new skills and knowledge.

What are the main principles?

Every History and Geography unit of work is introduced with a memorable experience or a trip as a hook into the learning to engage or at the end to consolidated their understanding and relate new knowledge and skills to their own life, locality and the wider world. 

Every topic across the school is taught alongside our core principles: starting with the engage stage to ignite enthusiasm and passion into their new learning, enquiry to encourage pupil interest and curiosity, explore and learn new knowledge and skills and then embed what the children have learned and enjoyed. 

Each topic links directly to History or Geography knowledge, building on existing skills and understanding to ensure that learning is progressive and continuous.

Intent: 

Teaching and learning will strive to enable the children at Morpeth All Saints to become lifelong geographers who have the skills and attitudes to continue to appreciate the world around them.  Thorough the Geography Curriculum children will learn about the Earth’s key physical and human processes whilst deepening their understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes and how this affects landscapes and environments.  Whilst teaching the Geography curriculum, strong links will be made to the environment and the challenges we face protecting it in this modern age. 

Geography learning will not take place just in the classroom. Outdoor, practical geography activities will focus on children gaining a sound understanding of the key human and physical features of their local environment whilst employing their developing fieldwork skills.  Teaching will foster children’s natural curiosity about the world, and inspire curiosity and fascination about the world’s people, places, resources and environments.   Through their learning in Geography, children will be aware of their roles and responsibilities as Global Citizens. The individual talents and abilities of pupils will be promoted to ensure that each child fulfils his or her full potential.  

Implementation:

From Early Years teaching will focus on children gaining an understanding of where they live on a local, national and global level and to understand that they are British but also Global Citizens. Geography will be taught through investigation and enquiry, with children developing an understanding of how Geography impacts our lives today both locally, nationally and internationally. Geography across the school is taught through a rich range of units which incorporate both Human and Physical Geography, in addition the development of key geographical skills. Links will be made between outdoor fieldwork skills and tasks in class and the different areas of Geography.  Field trips will be encouraged, both within our local area and in the wider area so that they can put their geographical skills into practice whilst becoming more familiar with their local environment.  Cross curricular links will be explored in each unit. ICT will be used as much as possible in order to enhance Geographical skills for example with the use of google Earth, Google 3d and possibly Digi maps. To link with our language learning, we have International Days to celebrate the diverse cultures across the globe and learn more about what it is like in each place. Learning will extend beyond school, with children being given homework projects linked to their unit of work. Visits and visitors within Geography will enrich the lives of the children and they are able to discuss how the experience impacted their knowledge and understanding.  Children will gain a good understanding of geographical terms and be able to use these both orally and in their written work.

Impact:

At Morpeth All Saints we expect children of all abilities and backgrounds to find success through the Geography Curriculum. We assess the impact of this curriculum in many different ways. This begins with the use of formative assessment within lessons and targeted feedback at the point of learning, whether responding to pupils’ confidence and skill level during fieldwork activities, during written outcomes, or through the way children communicate orally about the subject matter they are learning. Outcomes produced by the children are assessed against the desired skills and knowledge relevant to the specific year groups. At the end of each term, judgements are made against end of year expectations, which inform next steps for cohorts. Ongoing assessment of children’s enjoyment and appreciation of their Geography learning occurs through formal and informal pupil voice feedback.

Geography Policy...

Skills progression documents...

Curriculum Entitlement document...