We live in a world where the balance between nature and humans has never been more closely scrutinised and, more critically, addressed. It is our intent to arm children with the geographical understanding and knowledge to be able to understand, and in some cases even effect, the inevitable change that will no doubt transpire in the near future on local, national and international scales.
Connections and links are integral to geography. Starting with the world which our youngest pupils can see, hear, feel and - most importantly – understand, we will teach them to make connections to and understand places further afield and with ever increasing contrasts to their known world. They will investigate and understand how cities and populations have developed and changed and once again make those all-important connections to their bank of understood or ‘known’ locations. It will spark pupils’ curiosity about places and people. It will promote knowledge, interest and fascination about worlds previously unknown to the majority, whilst bringing them to life in the classroom. We will help children to understand the physical processes they undoubtedly see all around them, fostering new appreciation alongside this understanding.
Geography at Bosvigo will help pupils to become knowledgeable citizens who are concerned about the future of the world, are able to understand key geographical concepts and possess the skills required to investigate and share them.
Through the 2014 National Curriculum framework, Geography at Bosvigo is taught using a topic based curriculum and aims to ensure that all our pupils:
- participate in fieldwork activities which promote geographical knowledge and understanding whilst bridging the divide between the classroom and the real world;
- have the opportunity to work in a supportive and collaborative learning space which fosters investigative and enquiry based learning;
- ·are able to use geographical vocabulary which is appropriate and accurate and which develops and evolves from EYFS to KS1 and through to KS2;
- collect, analyse and present a range of data, gathered through experiences of fieldwork, to deepen understanding of geographical processes;
- use and interpret a wide range of sources of geographical information, including maps, diagrams, globes and aerial photographs;
- are able to communicate geographical information in a variety of ways, including through maps, numerical and quantitative skills and writing at length;
- participate in activities which promote a greater understanding of their place in the world, and their rights and responsibilities to other people and the environment.
We use a variety of strategies to evaluate the knowledge, skills and understanding that our children have gained in each half-termly unit:
- CPD to ensure that teacher pedagogy and assessment is secure.
- Regular marking and pupil voice feedback.
- Subject monitoring, including book looks.
- Regular low stakes knowledge assessments, using a range of creative approaches.