At Cloudside Academy, we follow the National curriculum (2014) and support its aims to provide, “A high-quality geography education that 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.” Our vision for our children is to have a clear understanding of geographical concepts, which include locating, describing and comparing places around the world. Therefore, we plan and set our work under these three headings to ensure that all children receive a well balanced education, which offers opportunities to practise geographical skills. Our Geography curriculum is organised so that skills, knowledge and vocabulary are taught progressively. Our curriculum is heavily underpinned by the importance of ‘Knowing more, Doing more, Remembering More’. Consequently, children learn about physical and human processes that they will revisit throughout their learning journeys. This encourages pupils to develop secure foundational knowledge that they can build on, throughout their time at Cloudside and beyond.
We believe in the importance of children developing subject specific skills that are unique to the discipline of Geography and therefore teach discreetly. This allows a greater appreciation of Geography and recognition of its magnitude within the curriculum. We intend for children to understand the importance of geographical skills in practice. Through fieldwork, we equip children with first-hand experiences, which give them the knowledge and skills to gather data, analyse findings and draw conclusions. When possible, we personalise our curriculum and go out into the community to understand our local area. We are proud of our market town and compare how life may differ for others across the UK and around the world. Our Geography curriculum embeds our GROWTH values by embodying greatness in the skills we develop, growing a sense of tolerance of others who live differently than ourselves and encouraging responsibility in and around our community, particularly regarding caring for our environment.