Geography

At Bishop Martin CE Primary School our Guiding LIGHT Curriculum is built around the National Curriculum, enriched to reflect the children and community we teach.

We strive to provide a curriculum that is underpinned by our Christian Values, which are embedded in the life and work of our school, and to allow all our children to 'Let their Light Shine'.

Let Your Light Shine Before Others So They May See Your Good Deeds' (Matthew 5.16)

National Curriculum - Purpose of Study

Geography is the study of the environment and the physical and human features that shape it. The subject enables children to develop an understanding of their locality and compare it to contrasting regions in the United Kingdom and the rest of the world. They learn how to use and interpret maps and develop skills in research, investigation, analysis and problem solving.

The aims of the 2014 National Curriculum are for our pupils to:

Develop contextual knowledge of the location of globally significant places – both terrestrial and marine – including their defining physical and human characteristics and how these provide a geographical context for understanding the actions of processes.

Understand the processes that give rise to key physical and human geographical features of the world, how these are interdependent and how they bring about spatial variation and change over time.

Are competent in the geographical skills needed to:

Collect, analyse and communicate with a range of data gathered through experiences of fieldwork that deepen their understanding of geographical processes.
Interpret a range of sources of geographical information, including maps, diagrams, globes, aerial photographs and Geographical Information Systems (GIS).

Communicate geographical information in a variety of ways, including through maps, numerical and quantitative skills and writing at length.

Intent

Our aims in teaching Geography are that all children will:

Gain knowledge and understanding of their locality and contrasting places in the world.

Develop mapping skills; use, draw and interpret a range of maps.

Develop Geographical enquiry and fieldwork skills through a questioning approach that helps children to understand the world around them.

Show knowledge and appreciation of a range of cultures, demonstrating respect and understanding of what it means to be a positive citizen in a multi-cultural society.

Increase awareness environmental issues at local, regional and global levels.

Show commitment to sustainable development and develop an understanding of global citizenship.

Develop a range of other skills, including those of enquiry, problem solving, ICT and practical exploration.

Experience a sense of wonder at the world around them and actively make a positive contribution to preserving global environments for future generations.

Develop the children into well rounded individuals.

Implementation

Curriculum Planning

Geography is taught in the first half term of each term (3 times per year). The objectives are taken directly from the National Curriculum. We revisit these objectives to support retrieval of the knowledge gained and build on and consolidate learning. Each topic will commence with a retrieval task where children retrieve prior knowledge from lesson before or last time linked content was taught. This task will inspire children’s thoughts about the area/theme and bring this knowledge to the forefront when introduced to new learning.

The children will have a unit cover at the beginning of each topic, to show the specific geographical knowledge and vocabulary that they will learn throughout the topic. This will be stuck into their Geography books. ‘What We are Learning’ for each half term will also be added to the website for each year group so that parents can access this and encourage their children to deepen their knowledge outside of school.

Each unit of learning is presented to the children as an enquiry question. Fieldwork and map skills are at the forefront of this enquiry question and the children have the opportunity to into their own local and wider environment to explore the world in which they live and record their findings.

At Bishop Martin we follow a structure to all Geography lessons. Before new learning, the children complete a retrieval task where prior knowledge from lesson before or last time linked content was taught can be recapped. The teacher will then introduce the lesson, share why this is being taught and why before introducing the new key vocabulary for the lesson. After the teacher input for teach new concept the children apply their new learning to a task to deepen their understanding. To conclude the lesson, there is always a ‘lock it in task’ to recap learning to reinforce what has been learned in the lesson to aid quicker recall.

The units in the long term plan have been sequenced to ensure that:

In Key Stage 1:

Pupils develop knowledge about the world (including Kenya and Australia), the United Kingdom and their locality. They will understand basic subject-specific vocabulary relating to human and physical geography and begin to use geographical skills, including first-hand observation, to enhance their locational awareness.

In Key Stage 2:

Pupils extend their knowledge and understanding beyond the local area to include the United Kingdom and Europe, and South America. This will include the location and characteristics of a range of the world’s most significant human and physical features. They will develop their use of geographical knowledge, understanding and skills to enhance their locational and place knowledge.

Geography Subject Overview

Impact

An important part of the Geography Curriculum is the ability to retain and re-use knowledge, vocabulary and skills in a progressive and developmental way throughout the journey through school.  At the end of the unit, the children complete an impact task. This can be in the form of a writing task, with a focus on writing at length in Geography, or a quiz. Teachers use the quiz and extended writing to formally assess each individual child. They are assessed against National Curriculum objectives to be working towards the year group expectation (WTS), working at the expected standard for their age group (EXS) or working at greater depth (GDS) within Geography. Teachers then use these systems to support their judgements on askEddi (school assessment system) each term.