National Curriculum in England
Purpose of study
‘A high-quality geography education should inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. Teaching should equip pupils with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes. As pupils progress, their growing knowledge about the world should help them to deepen their understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes, and of the formation and use of landscapes and environments. Geographical knowledge, understanding and skills provide the frameworks and approaches that explain how the Earth’s features at different scales are shaped, interconnected and change over time.’
National Curriculum 2014
Geography at Birchensale
The aim of geography teaching at Birchensale is to inspire a curiosity about the world and its people. We teach children about their local area, the United Kingdom and the wider world.
Within KS2 we will be developing key skills, look at the local environment and begin to look at the wider world including Europe, North and South America. Children will identify the position and significance of latitude and longitude and the equator. Children will develop understanding about the key aspects of physical geography such as; climate zones, landscapes, biomes and vegetation belts. They will also look at a variety of human geography features including; migration, population and tourism. Within KS2, children will also continue to develop their observation and fieldwork skills through looking at four and six-figure grid references and symbols.
Assessment at Birchensale
With the new National Curriculum Framework, which was introduced in September 2014, the Department for Education also announced the removal of levels. The government had realised when they developed the new national curriculum that levels “…were not sufficiently aligned with its content, aims and ethos.”
We have developed an assessment monitoring system which is rigorous and consistent in our approach to assessing key stage 2 students’ progress.
The assessment table for KS2: Year 5 and 6 is downloadable in the attachments.