Our Geography Curriculum

Intent:

We believe that geography teaches us how to explore and understand the world - recognising the great differences in cultures, landscapes and environments across the world, and exploring the links between them. With this in mind, we aim to:

• Seek to equip our children with key skills and knowledge in geography that will prepare them for the next stage in their learning and provide them with the necessary foundations to be successful in adult life.
• Build a geography curriculum which develops learning and results in the acquisition of knowledge and skills so that all pupils know more and remember more.
• Instil a love for geography in our pupils and develop their knowledge of the world, as well as their place within it, and encourage them to undertake new experiences throughout their life.
• Enable every pupil to view themselves as geographers.
• Use high-quality questioning to develop critical thinkers.
• Deliver all the requirements of the national curriculum in relation to geography.
• Ensure all geography lessons include opportunities to develop vocabulary.
• Make pupils aware of and apply the geographical transferable skills required when linked to other subjects, as well as other aspects of their life.
• Help children to understand and appreciate geography.
• Encourage pupils to ask questions and propose solutions to environmental problems within the local community and the wider world.
• Increase pupil’s awareness of environmental issues and the impact humans have.
• Encourage pupils to become reflective members of society who consider their actions/choices and actively invest in protecting the planet.  

Implementation:

As part of the planning process, teachers plan the following:

• We implement our approach through high quality teaching delivering appropriately challenging work for all individuals.
• Every class from Y1 to Y6 follows the Rising Stars scheme of learning which is based on the National Curriculum. Lessons are personalised to address the individual needs and requirements for a class but coverage is maintained.
• In the Early Years it is the first opportunity to see how a child interacts with their environment and how the environment influences them. Staff follow the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Statutory Framework which aims to guide children, to make sense of their physical world and their community by allowing them to explore, observe and find out about people, places, technology and the environment – this is the first step of becoming a geographer.
• Lessons provide all children with opportunities to investigate and build geographical expertise from their local area to the wider world. This includes locational knowledge, understanding of human and physical features and geographical and fieldwork techniques.
• Key vocabulary is embedded and discussed within lessons.
• Lessons include opportunities to develop skills and fieldwork using maps and atlases (both physical and digital).
• Fieldwork allows pupils to apply geographical skills in a real-life setting and explore their local area and the features within it.
• Deep subject knowledge and key skills are developed while differentiating work for all abilities.

Impact:

• Children will make at least good progress in geography from their last point of statutory assessment and from their starting point in Reception.
• Children will use their geographical knowledge and skills, in all curriculum areas, to enable them to know more, remember more and understand more.
• Children will retain knowledge that is pertinent to applying geographical knowledge and skills with a real life context.
• All children view themselves as geographers and use and apply these skills across the curriculum.
• Monitoring will indicate high expectations and reflect what pupils have learned to a good standard. 
• All learning builds toward clearly defined end points that are met. 
• Geography is given a high profile in school with displays that give both information to support learning and celebrate children’s work.
• Pupils will leave KS2 with a strong knowledge of their local area and a confidence of the location of other countries and cities around the world.
• All pupils will be able to discuss and recall a variety of events and where they happened in the world, as well as explain aspects of human and physical geography and confidently use maps and atlases (physical and digital). 
• Knowledge and skills will have developed progressively to not only enable children to meet the requirements of the National Curriculum but to prepare them to become competent geographers.  We want pupils to have thoroughly enjoyed learning about geography, therefore, encouraging them to undertake new life experiences now and in the future.