Geography

Intent

Our Geography curriculum aims to inspire children to become curious and explorative thinkers with a diverse knowledge of the world; in other words, to think like a geographer. We want children to develop the confidence to question and observe places, measures and record necessary data in various ways and analyses and present their findings. Through our curriculum, we aim to build awareness of how Geography shapes our lives at multiple scales over time. We hope to encourage children to become resourceful, active citizens who will have the children to contribute and improve the world around them.

Our scheme encourages: -

• A strong focus on developing both geographical skills and knowledge.
• Critical thinking, with the ability to ask perceptive questions and explain and analyse evidence.
• The development of fieldwork skills across each year group.
• A deep interest and knowledge of children’s locality and how it differs from other areas of the world.
• A growing understanding of geographical terms and vocabulary.

Our Geographical Curriculum enables pupils to meet the end of key stage attainment targets in the national curriculum.

Implementation

The national curriculum organises the geography attainment target under four stands:-

• Locational knowledge
• Place and knowledge
• Human and physical geography
• Geographical skills and fieldwork

Our Geography curriculum has a clear progression of skills and knowledge within these four strands across each year group. Our progression planner shows the skills that are taught and how these develop to ensure that attainment targets are securely met by the end of each key stage.

Our curriculum is a spiral curriculum, with essential knowledge and skills revisited with increasing complexity, allowing pupils to revise and build on their previous learning. Locational knowledge, in particular, will be reviewed in each unit to coincide with our belief that this will consolidate children’s understanding of key concepts, such as scale and place, in Geography.

Our enquiry questions form the basis for our units, meaning that pupils gain a solid understanding of geographical knowledge and skills by applying them to answer enquiry questions. We have designed these questions to be open-ended with no preconceived answers and therefore they are genuinely purposeful and engage pupils in generating a real change. In attempting to answer them, children learn how to collect, interpret, and present data using geographical methodologies and make informed decisions by applying their geographical knowledge.

Each unit contains elements of geographical skills and fieldwork to ensure that fieldwork skills are practised as often as possible. Our curriculum follows an enquiry cycle that maps out the fieldwork process of question, observe, measure, record, and present, to reflect the elements mentioned in the national curriculum. This ensures children will learn how to decide on an area of enquiry, plan to measure data using a range of methods, capture the data and present it to a range of appropriate stakeholders in various formats.

Fieldwork includes smaller opportunities on the school grounds to larger-scale visits to investigate physical and human features. Developing fieldwork skills within the school environment and revisiting them in multiple units enables children consolidate their understanding of various methods. It also gives children the confidence to evaluate methodologies without always having to leave the school grounds and do so within the confines of a familiar place. This makes fieldwork regular and accessible while giving children a thorough understanding of their locality, providing a solid foundation when comparing it with other places.

Lessons involve various teaching strategies from independent tasks to paired and group work, including practical hands-on, computer-based and collaborative tasks. This variety means that lessons are engaging and appeal to those with a variety of learning styles.

Knowledge organisers for each unit support children in building a base of knowledge in recalling key facts and vocabulary.

Strong subject knowledge is vital to be able to deliver a high-quality Geography Curriculum. We have a clear cycle of CPD for staff to ensure that they feel fully skilled to deliver our Geography Curriculum.

Lessons are timetabled in unit blocks to ensure that learning is closely connected and that children can immerse themselves in their geographical learning and enquiry.

Impact

An enquiry-based approach to learning will allow teacher to assess children against the national expectations for Geography. The impact of our history curriculum is constantly monitored through assessment, learning walks and pupil discussions.

Children will leave school equipped with a range of skills to enable them to succeed in their secondary education. We aim to shape children into curious and inspired geographers with respect and appreciation for the world around them alongside an understanding of the interconnection between the human and physical.  

Overall, we intend that the impact of our geography curriculum is that children will: -

• Compare and contrast human and physical features to describe and understand similarities and differences between various places in the UK, Europe and the Americas
• Name, locate and understand where and why the physical elements of our world are located and how they interact, including processes over time relating to climate, biomes, natural disasters and the water cycle.
• Understanding how humans use the land for economic and trading purposes, including how the distribution of natural resources has shaped this.
• Develop an appreciation for hoe humans are impacted by and have developed around the physical geography surrounding them and how humans have had an impact on the environment, both positive and negative.
• Develop a sense of location and place around the UK and some areas of the wider world using the eight points of a compass, four and six figured grids references, symbols and keys on maps, globes, atlases, aerial photographs, and digital mapping.
• Identify and understand how various elements of our globe create positioning, including latitude, longitude, the hemisphere, the tropics and how time zones work, including night and day.
• Present and answer their own geographical enquiries using planned and specifically chosen methodologies, collected data and digital technologies.
• Meet the end of key stage expectations outlined in the national curriculum for Geography.