Geography at Co-op Academy Medlock 

 

‘Geography underpins a lifelong “conversation” about the the home of humankind’

Geography Association 

Intent

Geography  is an integral part of the broad and balanced curriculum provided for all pupils at Co-op Academy Medlock. We believe that all children should be able to be curious about the world they live in and people in it and use this curiosity to understand the impact they can have on the world around them. 

All children have opportunities to develop their knowledge in Geography through a carefully structured and progressive curriculum which enables pupils  to develop a curiosity and a fascination with the World and its people. We want our children to develop a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes and the way these interact with each other and impact on the way people live their lives. Our curriculum closely follows guidance from the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework (EYFS) and the National Curriculum Programmes of Study. 

We also believe that it is important we recognise the diversity of our school community and that this diversity is present in our Geography curriculum. This enables pupils to learn about different places around the world and the people that live there and to draw comparisons and make connections.  It also allows our pupils and community to see themselves in what they learn. Geography provides opportunities for children to see, experience and understand how human geography impacts upon physical geography and their role in shaping the future of the planet  as the next generation of global citizens. 

Implementation 

Geography  is taught by class teachers, of which the delivery is supported by the subject lead.

In Early Years, pupils are supported to develop an understanding of the past across the whole curriculum. 

This is supported each half term, by an Understanding the World ‘topic’ which helps children to make sense of their physical world and their community. These broad topics have a National Curriculum driver with a particular emphasis on developing subject specific knowledge and skills in preparation for the National Curriculum.  Teaching  includes guided, adult led and child initiated opportunities.  

The frequency and range of children’s personal experiences increases their knowledge and sense of the world around them – from visiting parks, libraries and museums to meeting important members of our community now and in the past. In addition, listening to a broad selection of stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems will foster their understanding of our culturally, socially, technologically and ecologically diverse world. As well as building important knowledge, this extends their familiarity with words that support understanding across the curriculum. Enriching and widening children’s vocabulary is seen as particularly crucial in order to prepare them for the key stage 1 curriculum and beyond. 

The environment is structured at each stage (including provocations) to provide children with opportunities to develop, explore and investigate these new skills freely; with adults carefully skilled at intervening and moving learning forward. 

In years 1-6, the curriculum builds on our foundational learning in the Early Years. Following progressive and carefully written medium term planning developed by the subject leader. These have been structured  so that pupils revisit and further develop their understanding; constantly building on the learning that has come before. This includes disciplinary knowledge of how the children can interpret and understand a range of geographical sources and data.  Further to this, they support and enhance the learning in other curriculum areas, where appropriate, in particular humanities and give pupils opportunities to transfer and apply their knowledge from other curriculum areas. 

Each unit of work is designed to enable the pupils to build on learning that has come before. It is built on questions with an emphasis on core concepts that are revisited as the children move through school enabling them to make links within and across the time periods they encounter. These concepts are Locational Geography, Place, Human, Physical, Plants and Animals and Interdependence. In units of work such as Rainforests and Deserts, pupils will look at where these are located in relation to each other. They will also examine what these places are like and the animals and plants that live in these environments. In units such as Rivers they will learn about the way that humans have been dependent on these through history and the impact humans have on the physical world. 

Every unit is planned to follow a specific cycle to support the acquisition and development of substantive and disciplinary knowledge which are taken from our progression documents.  Each lesson is planned according to the pedagogy outlined in our ‘Teaching and Learning Principles’. Both of these have been implemented based upon current educational research. 

Critical thinking is a key aspect of the geography curriculum. This is done in a variety of ways including throughout and at the end of a lesson where the children have to justify their opinions based upon the knowledge they have acquired.  This might also be done informally through discussion. 

Reading  and vocabulary development is of utmost importance at Co-op Academy Medlock and as such this is reflected in the way that history is taught, with pupils being explicitly taught vocabulary they will need to access the core knowledge at the start of each lesson.  Pupils also have opportunities to read a range of texts in lessons and across other curriculum areas such as English, reading and geography. These texts include quality poems and non-fiction texts to support their understanding across the curriculum. 

Due to our location near the city centre we are fortunate to have a number of Museums and Galleries on our doorstep. We actively encourage pupils to visit local Museums and  galleries such as, Manchester Museum, the Whitworth Art Gallery and Manchester Art Gallery with their families and children have the opportunities to visit these galleries regularly throughout their time at Co-op Academy Medlock.

Impact 

Teachers and the subject lead triangulate information from a variety of sources to make  judgements about what the children have learnt at the end of each topic. In Key stage 1 exit tickets are used to assess the core knowledge at the end of each lesson. In Key stage 2 Summative google quizzes are completed and essays are used to support these. Significant gaps are recorded by the teacher and this is then shared with the subject leader. These gaps are then used to inform future homework. The subject leader then uses this to inform future actions to ensure that pupils continue to make good progress in geography. 

As geography  is a driver for many other curriculum areas this gives a greater purpose to the learning that takes place. The knowledge and skills they develop within these sessions are transferable to other areas of the curriculum including art, history, science and maths. 

Pupils positively engage with geography, make good progress and produce work of a high standard.