Geography at Berrymede
At Berrymede , we aim to provide stimulating lessons that capture children’s interest in our diverse world, its environment and people. Children are enabled develop and gain a rich knowledge and understanding of the world, as well as their place in it. We achieve this through a geographical enquiry approach that encourages children to lead in their own learning and make sense of their environment and its surroundings. Pupils learn geographical skills through case studies and fieldwork that range from Acton to North America, Iceland to Peru and often immerse themselves in these locations in other subjects such as Literacy and Latin.
Implementation
At the beginning of each topic, existing knowledge is checked, as part of the KWL strategy (What I know, What I would like to Know and What I have Learnt). This ensures that teaching is informed by the children’s starting points and that it takes account of pupil voice, incorporating children’s interests. Each topic will have an overarching key enquiry question which pupils build up the knowledge to answer in their weekly lessons. As pupils progress, their knowledge helps them to understand the relationship between physical and human process as well as understand the formation of biomes. The Geography provision is well-resourced and specific resources are mapped to specific topics to enhance the experience and using every opportunity for children to apply the knowledge and skills both in and beyond the classroom.
Impact
Our geography curriculum is high quality, well thought out and is planned to demonstrate progression. We focus on progression of locational and place knowledge, human and physical geography and geography skills and fieldwork. Discreet vocabulary progression also forms part of the units of work.
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.
- 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 about the teaching and learning across the school.
- Termly reporting of standards across the curriculum.
- Marking of written work in books.
- Summative assessment
- Child-friendly targets which allow pupils to take ownership of their learning and assessment which is tracked throughout their time at Berrymede.
