Geography

Our Geography curriculum is underpinned by the appreciation for the awe and wonder where we view the world that Christians believe that God created. We do this in an invitational way so as to allow for the full spectrum of religious and non religious views.

Spirituality by its definition will be found in many ways and forms. Below are just some typical examples of where it may be found in our Geography curriculum:

o Wonder at the diversity of environments and people.

o Questions about the care of the environment.

o The beliefs behind particular causes and campaigns.

o World (economic) development.

o Land formation.

o Empathy with people from other parts of the world.

We want all pupils to know how to treat our beautiful earth with dignity, love and respect and know how we can use the disciplinary knowledge of Geography to help us build stronger communities where we can all live together gratefully with joy. Some times we do this through looking at some of the harsh ways that we have not always treated the earth with respect as well as studying the many beautiful and amazing accomplishments too.

The study of Geography at St Egwin’s follows the aims of the National Curriculum and embeds the key knowledge and understanding acquired at First School to create confident geographical students for the remainder of KS3 and potentially through to GCSE and A Level.

The National Curriculum aims to ensure that all pupils develop a contextual knowledge of globally significant places, including their defining physical and human characteristics and how these provide a geographical context for understanding the world around them. We aim for pupils to understand the processes that give rise to key physical and human geographical features of the world, how these are linked and how they bring spatial variation and change over geological and human time.

The National Curriculum aims for all pupils to be competent in the geographical skills needed to collect, analyse, and communicate with a range of data and deepen their understanding of geographical processes, and to interpret a range of sources including maps, diagrams and aerial photographs and satellite imagery. We aim for all pupils to communicate geographical information in variety of ways from maps to numerical and quantitative skills and writing at length.

We aim for all pupils to understand the world they live in; to identify their place in the world we live; to see how the world has been shaped and to understand their role in its future as we learn more about respecting and loving the place, we call home.

It is the ambition of the Geography Department, that every pupil will endeavour to grow their knowledge, understanding and skills of geographical processes. Through focused teaching, practise, and oracy (structured and scaffolded talk) pupils will build on their existing knowledge to challenge their own and the misconceptions of others, solve problems and embed the learning that the teacher provides. Making decisions in groups, challenges the pupils to communicate effectively, listen to the views of others and understand that sometimes the first solution identified is not always the best one.

Progression and succession are paramount to our success. For example, in Year 6, pupils undertake a Map Skills unit that develops on their basic knowledge of map work and develops more complicated skills around coordinates and reading thematic maps. These skills are then developed through Year 7 and 8, with pupils identifying good locations for football stadiums and regenerating areas of cities. The knowledge they acquire throughout each year is revisited regularly and all pupils will be able to identify and understand the links with previous learning. For example, in Year 8, pupils will identify the link between the future of our planet and how the world population is changing studied in Year 7.