Covid Recovery Statement
We focused our lockdown live lessons, which were made available to all students, on graphical analysis skills with a main focus on Ecosystem knowledge and Urbanisation for year 9 students. We are confident that, if your child engaged with tasks set and live lessons offered, our educational offering should have helped to reduce what would have been missed in the classroom with regards to this knowledge and these skills.
What are the gaps?
Knowledge: Students were not able to study the units as we would have studied them in the classroom meaning that their knowledge gained of places and geographical events is not as in depth and they didn’t have as many opportunities to show their understanding.
Skills: Students gained some good numeracy skills during lockdown as we focused on climate graphs and understanding and reading them but the main skill missed was the skill of application. This enables students to use their knowledge and understanding of a topic and apply it to a new situation; for example, they didn’t get the opportunity to draw their own climate graphs and make decisions about the best way to achieve this.
How will they be addressed?
Our main focus areas on returning to school are:
You’ll notice all schemes of work in the first term are engaging and provide the opportunities for students to think outside the box and get excited for their future. We will be encouraging your child to research future career and travel opportunities so that they can link them to what we are studying in lessons. We would like your child to expand their knowledge of the world around them and allow their imaginations to encompass the possibility of an exciting and worthwhile future.
We are aware that your child will have these gaps from missing in school teaching and our adaptations to the curriculum are a priority in ensuring that we fill these gaps. We have planned our lessons in ways which are differentiated to all needs of all students whereby we are able to support and challenge your child. Students are building their metacognition skills every lesson and taking the lead in their learning through the process of ‘think, act, reflect’ and we are also using self and peer assessment which gives your child control and the ability to reflect on their learning as well as others’ and apply this knowledge and understanding to their next piece of work – which is a key skill in itself for Geography. We will use marking, feedback and home learning to learn more about the gaps and how successfully we are filling them in order to adapt our teaching to suit the needs of the students.
What are students expected to do?
Students should enter a Geography classroom ready to try their best and have the desire to solve the problems of our world. We are fulfilling the need for future leaders who are willing to work hard and meet expectations in order to go out into the world and make it a better place. Students are required to be reflective of their work and always consider the notion of ‘how can I do this better next time?’ They must be accepting of their areas for development and use that knowledge as a stepping stone to support themselves in their learning journey. As teachers, we can use these areas of development in order to guide students to achieve and ultimately to success.
How can I support my child?
Welcome to the humanities department; at Stretford High, we deliver a combined Humanities programme consisting of Geography, History and Religious studies. Our aim is to inspire a curiosity and fascination about the world in which we live.
Students have two forty-five minute lessons each week as part of their Humanities curriculum. Links between the three subjects are identified and embraced in the amalgamated humanities programme of study. All programmes meet the requirements of the national curriculum.
Year 7
| Year 7 Curriculum Overview | Topic | Unit content |
| Term 1 | Tourism | Fascinating geographical places around the UK with a focus on numeracy and map skills in Geography |
| Term 2 | Manchester | The geological history of the Earth, the story of Manchester, Stretford fieldwork |
| Term 3 | Plate tectonics | Structured and creative writing regarding the formation of the Earth as it is today, with case studies of volcanic and seismic events |
Year 8
| Year 8 Curriculum Overview | Topic | Unit content |
| Term 1 | Natural resources and population | Water as a natural resource and how it impacts on development |
| Factfulness | A study into different ways to measure development and the current skewed view of global development | |
| Term 2 | Coasts | The physical processes which shape our coastlines and create a dynamic environment |
| Term 3 | Africa | Addressing stereotypes of Africa and highlighting the physical landscape differences across the continent |
Year 9
| Year 9 Curriculum Overview | Topic | Unit content |
| Term 1 | Race Across the World | We will be virtually travelling from the UK to Singapore and exploring the necessities for travel, competing against each other to find the best route |
| Term 2 | Colonialism | Exploring the causes and impacts of colonialism on the formation of a development gap and the causation of ethnically diverse challenges |
| Term 3 | Prisoners of Geography | Investigating the impact of Geography on geopolitical events using a series of maps from Tim Marshall |