Geography Curriculum

Intent

At St. Anselm's we seek to inspire in children a lifelong curiosity and fascination about the world they live in.  Geography at St. Anselm's is an enquiry-based curriculum and our aim is for children to develop a deep understanding of knowledge of the world, as well as their place in it.  Through enquiring and investigating children will use a vast range of Geographical skills to develop a deep understanding of diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with an understanding of the Earth's key physical and human processes.

The Geography curriculum at St. Anselm's is designed to develop knowledge and skills that are progressive, building on children's previous learning.  Children can unlock prior learning and build onto it with new.  Children are taught explicit geographical vocabulary, where they will not only know the definition, but its different formats and its multiple meanings.  In addition, we want to develop geographical skills such as fieldwork, map reading etc and comparing and contrasting local areas and other locations of the world.

Implementation

Geography at St. Anselm's is taught in three half-termly blocks throughout the year so that children can achieve depth in their learning.

Teachers at St. Anselm's have worked in partnership with Janet Moffat (School Improvement Partner) to develop an enquiry-based Geography curriculum.  Our units of work always start with an over-arching question, which focuses on the purpose and value of the learning.  Teachers plan coherent and sequenced lessons, which enable children to collect and analyse information, examine evidence, and use reasoning to answer the key question.

Teachers unlock previous knowledge through consistent retrieval practice in every lesson. Retrieval practice activities are varied and engaging, such as teacher-led quizzes, odd one-out questions, and connecting walls.  At the start of each lesson, pupils put on their 'Georgraphy hats' to identify the skills they need to answer the key question.  At St. Anselm's we also follow a 'no hands up approach', ensuring all children are engaged in their learning.

We provide a range of motivating experiences to engage our learners including outdoor learning on the school grounds; fieldwork, camping, and a residential trip in Year 6.  For example, EYFS explore our local park-Manor Gardens, Year 1 studies our local area Southall, and Year 2 conducts field work in Ealing Broadway.  In KS2, our Year 3 pupils visit a rural area, Year 4 undertake fieldwork relating to rivers.  At St. Anselm's Years 5 and 6 also have many opportunities to explore orienteering.

Impact

Monitoring strategies such as pupil book studies, feedback on planning, drop-ins, and staff and pupil voice are used by leaders to measure impact throughout the school. This has supported teachers in planning coherent and sequenced lessons which build up to children answering the overall arching key question. In Summer, 2024 the Geography and Curriculum Lead reviewed the Autumn 2024 planning and gave feedback to Teachers. Monitoring of teaching and learning through book looks in September 2024.

Children complete a vocabulary assessment at the start and end of each unit, which they revisit at the end of the topic.  Assessing pupil's understanding of key vocabulary at the start of each unit has given a clear focus for the delivery of lessons.  Autumn 2024's pupil voice has shown that retrieval practice has positively impacted children's sticky knowledge.  They can recall their current and previous knowledge of Geography.  Children across the school spoke to the subject lead about their learning and demonstrated an understanding of why geography is important and their enjoyment.  For example, a Year 2 pupil recalled in detail a recent field trip to Ealing Broadway.  Pupils at St. Anselm's are also demonstrating greater interest and enthusiasm in geography, and they are keen to be involved in extra-curricular activities, such as sustainability group (Friends of the Earth).