Intent
We aim to prepare our pupils to be global citizens. We empower them with knowledge about the UK and the world so that they can engage with people from around the world with respect. By offering a broad Geography curriculum we hope to inspire them to study the subject further and give them the tools and foundation to do so. Our curriculum aims to teach our pupils about the community they live in and the geography that has influenced it. Our school serves a rural community, and so we aim to add to our pupils’ cultural capital by giving them an understanding of the diverse backgrounds people in the UK come from. By teaching about the whole world, we ensure every pupil regardless of their race or background, has the opportunity to learn about the geography of their ancestors. We model inclusivity to all by sensitively teaching about the human and population geography of the world, including the impact of slavery, colonialism and the British Empire. We support pupils to make progress from their starting points and develop a better understanding of the world around them. We arm our pupils with good map skills and spatial awareness giving them confidence to find their way and to plan safe routes in new places.
The key aims of Geography education are:
- To be able to read maps and plans and use them to navigate, plan routes and to give directions.
- To understand the human and physical Geography of the UK.
- To know about the human and physical geography of the wider world.
Implementation
Our Geography curriculum is designed using a Core Knowledge Curriculum, to provide pupils with a broad knowledge of the geography of the world. Teachers use Knowledge organisers to show pupils the knowledge of places they are expected to know by the end of each unit, and use these to develop pupil recall. A wide vocabulary of geographical terms is developed in all pupils, to give them confidence reading, writing and talking about a wide range of locations and geographical concepts. We endeavour to build knowledge with an awareness of cognitive loads, and so we start from what children already know, and build on this using a carefully planned progression. As such we begin by teaching children about their local area, and move further away and up in scale as the children progress thought the school.
We use retrieval practice to aid pupils in storing knowledge in their long-term memories, where it can become a part of relevant schemas. The children are taught map skills throughout the school, developing their precision and understanding of the wider world as they mature. We give all pupils the opportunity to use what they have learnt in fieldwork – both on and off site.
We encourage parents and members of the community to share their knowledge and experiences of the local area and wider world with pupils. We share where members of our community have been, and where we are going on a Geography board to encourage conversation about the wider world, and an appreciation of the value of a broad geographical knowledge.
We ensure all pupils can access our teaching by planning support for those that need it in the form of differentiated resources or additional teacher support.
Early Years Foundation Stage
Children within the EYFS experience maps through play and storytelling. They become familiar with positional and directional language through practical use. They talk about the weather they experience and discuss differences over seasons.
Key Stage One
In this stage children are taught about the maps and plans in the context of the school site. They learn about the climate, and how it changes with latitude. They are taught about the regions of the UK, and to identify the seven continents and some key features.
Lower Key Stage Two
In this stage children are taught about scale, grid references and develop their abilities to read and use Ordnance survey maps. They are taught about key geographical features – rivers, ecosystem and settlements. When studying the geography of the UK they learn about the local area and neighbouring counties. They learn about the countries and regions of Europe and then are taught about the features of Asia.
Upper Key Stage Two
In this stage children are taught about contour lines, latitude and longitude and time zones. They are taught how the geographical features they have studied previously apply to the human geography of the British Isles. They learn about the countries that form the UK. They study the geography of distant continents of Africa, Australasia, North and South America and Russia. They should be taught to relate the geographical features they have learnt about to their study of different regions.
Impact
Our aim is for attainment in line with national expectations. We envision that pupils will leave us as able to talk about the UK and the wider world confidently, understanding the links between geographical features and populations. They are expected to be able to make and use maps and plans, give directions and plan routes applying the map skills appropriate to their Year group.