Humanities Curriculum Ambition:
“Enquire, Explore, Discover”
To have an understanding and respect of the world that they live in by having the opportunity to discover the awe and wonder of our planet’s journey. To have the confidence to enquire and explore the world around them through meaningful and relevant events in school and in the wider community.
Geography has a significant role to play in the ‘human and social’ area of learning, which is concerned with people and how they live, their relationships with each other and their environments, and how human actions both now and in the past, have influenced events and conditions.
Geography is essential to understanding the world around us. Our pupils experience looking at real places and local contrasting environments. Pupils learn about the earth, its land, oceans, weather and climate. Geography allows pupils to explore the world around them through practical activities and a multi-sensory approach. Real experiences of journeys and different locations are an important part of the Geography curriculum and these visits allow our pupils to put what they are learning into a context. It also provides the opportunity for pupils to experience things they may not be able to outside of school e.g. trips to the beach or local rivers. As well as developing social skills, literacy, numeracy and a wider social Geography lends itself to environmental and ECO issues and citizenship.
Geography is delivered to all pupils in The EYFS/KS1 throughout different lessons primarily ‘Knowledge and Under
standing of the World’. Geography is delivered to Key Stage 2 under the Humanities rolling program. At KS3 pupils are taught Geography throughout discrete lessons, either 1 or 2 lessons a week and whenever the opportunity arises throughout other curriculum areas. Key Stage 4 pupils can now achieve BTEC Level 1 Hospitality and Tourism and also begin their Entry Level Qualification in ‘Humanities’ following the WJEC Syllabus. The teaching of Geography aims to develop pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural awareness, as well as thinking skills. Activities extend the pupils knowledge of the immediate locality, of the school environment, and national/world wide issues.
Pupils understanding of geography and concepts are reinforced through literacy, role play, numeracy, field trips and educational visits, visual aids and ICT. Through these activities pupils develop their skills and knowledge whilst having fun.
Examples of geographical topics covered across the school include:
Local studies, map work, use of google earth, traffic surveys, the seaside and coastline features, weather, rivers, materials, life cycles and habitats, other countries in the world, food chains, countries involved in WW2, mapping local areas, comparisons of villages and towns, fair trade, communities around the world, holiday locations, natural disasters, China, environmental impacts, population studies and development indicators.
Geography KS1-4 Scheme of Work
Key Stage 5
Geography is taught within a Vocational Studies BTEC where students use their Geographical Understanding of the local area to carry out independent living skills such as navigating their way from one place to another, describing routes, recognising surroundings, identifying places and using maps where appropriate. As part of Learning outside the classroom students experience a variety of human and physical environments within their studies at KS5.
