GEOGRAPHY
The teaching of geography at Basildon C.E. Primary, is designed to aid teachers to help students for a geography schema within their long-term memories. Rather than memorising isolated facts, through building a strong geography schema, students are able to organise knowledge in a meaningful way.
As a school we map
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Breadth of study- the topics the students will study
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Threshold concepts- the big ideas in geography that students will explore through every topic (investigate places, investigate patterns and communicate geographically)
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Milestones- the goals that students should reach to show thy are meeting the expectations of the curriculum.
Milestones are the goals that students are aiming for, through developing a strong schema based on knowledge, vocabulary and tasks children progress through the milestones.
Within the geography curriculum, we use 7 knowledge categories that enable children to identify common themes and make links throughout different geographical concepts. The knowledge categories are: location, physical features, human features, diversity, physical process, human process and techniques.
Disadvantaged children and those with SEND are given full access to the geography curriculum. Teachers use a range of strategies to enable all children to become successful geographers including:
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Discreet teaching of vocabulary to ensure all children are access and used geographical terminology
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Pre-teaching where appropriate for example: sharing texts with a child prior to the lesson
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Dual coding to help children efficiently learn key concepts
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Thinking maps and mind mapping to enable children to organise and memorise key knowledge.
What geography looks like in lessons:
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Children gain a deeper understanding of geography through the use of resource.
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Knowledge gained about geography with connections made
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Chris Quigley Milestones used to also guide planning/assessment
What geography at Basildon looks like outside of lessons:
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Cross curricular links where appropriate
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Visits to places of geographical interest.
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Clear evidence of our key values (Respect, Resilience and Excellence
Formative Assessment
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Pre-unit diagnostic assessment
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Verbal Feedback – the vast majority of feedback is in conversation with the pupil, allowing misconceptions to be spotted and effectively addressed at an early stage.
Summative Assessment
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End of unit assessment - assessed against key stage Milestones
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Proof of Progress (POP) tasks against the milestones.
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Expectations in line with English
Subject leaders map tier two vocabulary across each milestone and tier three vocabulary for each unit. Dual coding is used to support the discreet teaching of geography vocabulary across the curriculum.
The school’s curriculum driver of diversity underpins the entire geography curriculum. Teachers actively seek opportunities to promote and celebrate diversity across the curriculum where ever appropriate. For example, when exploring different countries and continents, teachers ensure stereotypical ideas are challenged and children learn about the full richness of different societies.
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