Geography
Intent
At the Newark Hill Academy, CHILD is at the heart of our enquiry based curriculum.
We challenge our pupils to recognise and achieve their full learning potential. We give children a set of skills to investigate and understanding the world around them. These skills will pave the way for them to succeed both here and when they go on to KS3. We ensure we meet the need of all of our learners, including pupils with SEND.
We ensure happiness and health in geography by creating a sense of belonging. We look at who we are and where we come from. We teach the children to have a sense of identity both locally and globally.
Our children will be inspired by exploring our local and global geography. Children use a range of skills and tools to compare themselves with other places around the world.
We equip our pupils with Lifelong Learning in Geography so they are prepared for life beyond the classroom. This could be reading a map to understanding where places are and the origin of key features of the world.
We celebrate diversity ensuring pupils understanding who they are, so that understand their role within the community and wider world. To understand what it means to be a British Citizen or, someone from another country who lives in Britain.
Implementation
At Newark Hill Academy, Geography forms an important part of the curriculum where pupils can become engaged in their learning, whilst developing key skills. We use exciting and motivating topics in order to deliver the relevant Geography subject skills and understanding. The teaching of geography in our academy is intended to inspire pupils with a curiosity and fascination about the world around them, equipping our children to ask questions, analyse evidence and statistics, think critically, and develop informed judgements.
Geography is delivered as a discrete subject and wherever possible cross curricular links are made. Children are encouraged to think like geographers and develop their skills such as map and compass reading, collecting and analysing data as evidence and presenting geographical information in a variety of ways. Children are given a wide variety of experiences both in the classroom and out. We encourage children to understand the importance of outdoor learning in order to build a natural curiosity about the world they live in and how it works around them.
As well as equipping our pupils with knowledge about physical and human processes, our teaching also enables the development of key geographical skills. These skills include; collecting and analysing data, using maps, globes and photographs, and communicating information in a variety of ways. All of this is not only achieved through classroom experiences, but also through the use of fieldwork opportunities and educational visits.
Fieldwork includes going out and about in our local area of Peterborough to study physical and manmade features, transport infrastructure and investigating landmarks. Children will also engage in map work activities within the school grounds and local area. There are also visits further afield, such as to Stibbington, where comparisons can be made.
There are also opportunities to compare our area of Peterborough with other locations within the UK and around the world. This is achieved through local visits (for example: local parks, museums, landmarks and estates, such as Burghley House) and making use of the VR sets in school to ‘visit’ other countries and areas, such as The Arctic Circle, Australia, Italy and Stone Henge.
Impact
By the end of KS1, our children will have developed their knowledge about the world, particularly about the United Kingdom and our locality. They will have developed a basic vocabulary relating to human and physical geography and begun to develop geographical skills, including first-hand observation, to enhance their awareness of their locality.
By the end of KS2, our children will have extended their knowledge about the wider world beyond the UK, including the location and characteristics of a range of the world’s human and physical features. They will use more complex vocabulary to describe the geographical similarities and differences across the world, using a wide range of resources to research and perform fieldwork presenting their learning.
National Curriculum Geography Programmes of Study:
Our Geography Coordinator is Mrs Worts