Assessment in Geography

At Millfield we will assess pupils’ progress and attainment in geography using the following strategies:

Ongoing formative assessment:

Planning:

When planning a lesson within a unit of work, teachers will build assessment criteria in as they plan. Teachers will use the progression grid to ensure that cross year group links are made explicit to the children of their prior learning. Teachers will review during and after lessons to help inform future planning (eg re-visit aspects/address misconceptions). Teachers will use the learning objective to assess whether the children have met this by being clear about what/how they might expect the children to demonstrate this. Eg Can I describe where people live in the world and some of the impacts of this? Might be shown as: Children are able to describe some patterns of land use. Children can say what features make this an attractive place to live etc.  Teachers will annotate planning – children exceeding or not meeting learning objectives.

Quizzes: Low stake knowledge based quizzes throughout a unit (regular review – eg name the 5 oceans) – test on knowledge as well as understanding of vocabulary. Before teaching a new unit – review previous learning this could be with a quick quiz.

OR: Focus on geographical skills such as labelling a map or locating a place based on given directions (compass or 4 or 6 figure grid references).

Mind mapping: Used at the beginning and/or end of a unit – this could be completed individually, small groups or as a whole class. Vary the approach to this to avoid it becoming mundane, eg post-it notes, graffiti walls, think/share/pair etc

Summative assessment:

End of year/phase:

Use of the progression document to check children are meeting age related expectations in the ‘Aspects of Achievement in Geography’ and using the ‘Specific Progression of Skills’.  

An end of unit quick quiz – see criteria above.