Geography

Curriculum Statement – Geography

Intent

Geography develops pupils’ understanding of the world in which they live through the study of place, space and environment.

Whilst geography provides a basis for pupils to understand their role within the world, by exploring locality and how people fit into a global structure, the subject also encourages children to learn through experience, particularly through practical and fieldwork activities.

Through the teaching of geography, we aim to:

• Ensure pupils know where they fit in to our local area and use this as a centre when exploring the world around them

• Increase pupils’ awareness, curiosity, knowledge and understanding of other cultures.

• Develop pupils’ graphic and fieldwork skills, including how to use, draw and interpret maps.

• Make pupils aware of environmental problems at a local, regional and global level.

• Encourage pupils to commit to sustainable development.

• Develop a variety of skills, including those in relation to problem-solving, ICT and presenting conclusions in the most appropriate way.

Our curriculum is shaped by our whole school vision. This aims to produce curious learners who are well equipped with the skills and resilience to overcome challenges they may face in an ever changing world. Our Geography teaching is progressively planned to help children understand the world around them, and to celebrate its’ diversity.

We teach the National Curriculum, supported by a clear skills and knowledge progression. This is mainly based on the progression set by CUSP (Curriculum with Unity Schools) but we supplement this with additional work to support the needs of our particular children.

Our Geography curriculum ensures skills and knowledge are built on year by year and sequenced appropriately to maximise learning for all children, and we make links between years and subjects explicit to the children.

Geography is taught in blocked units throughout the year (see Curriculum Map for more information). We believe this approach allows children to become immersed in their learning during a week or two weeks, and we use quizzes at the start of each lesson to maximise retrieval between sessions. We understand that spaced practice is effective in building long term memory, so we make links between Geography learning and other subjects, and build in retrieval modules into the year so children have time to reflect back on their previous learning.

It is important that children develop the skills of a geographer by fully immersing them in all areas of the subject, and the vocabulary associated with it. The local area is fully utilised to achieve desired outcomes, with opportunities for learning outside the classroom embedded in practice. School trips and fieldwork are provided to give first hand experiences, which enhance children’s understanding of the world beyond their locality.

We use knowledge notes in every Geography lesson to set the key learning points. These support teachers planning but are also a visual aid for children to refer to during, and after the lesson. Children additionally benefit from Knowledge organisers in their books and a copy at home.

Cultural Capital

We have based our curriculum around our local area, especially in key stage one. Children learn about the Geography of Maypole and the surrounding areas. They also learn about Birmingham and the Black Country.

By the end of their journey with us, children will have developed a rich understanding of many places across the world, as well as a knowledge of Geographical themes and processes. We believe it is important for children to be able to compare and contrast and also link Geography learning to other subjects. In year 6 for example, children compare Jamaica and Poland, after having learned about Jamaica as part of their Windrush history module.

We also plan for children to learn about people and their impact on sharing Geography with the world, and in year 1 children learn about Mary Anning and Sir David Attenborough.

Impact

By the time children leave Hollywood Primary school they will:

• Have an excellent knowledge of where places are and what they are like.

• Have an excellent understanding human and physical environments are how they are interrelated.

• Have an extensive base of geographical knowledge and vocabulary.

• Be fluent in geographical enquiry and the ability to apply questioning skills and presentational techniques.

• Have the ability to reach clear conclusions and develop a reasoned argument to explain

• findings.

• Have highly developed and frequently utilised fieldwork and other geographical skills and techniques.

• Have a passion for and commitment to the subject, and a real sense of curiosity to find out about the world and the people who live there.

We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:

•  –   Assessing children’s understanding of topic linked vocabulary

•  –   Retrieval quizzes at the start of each lesson

• Book study pupil discussions about their learning.

•  –   Images or videos of the children’s practical learning.

•  –   Marking of written work in books

• Assessment of children’s recall and understanding in spaced retrieval module

Useful websites:

Activities, games and stories about Barnaby Bear’s travels for KS1

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/barnabybear

Newsround world current events

http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/world/default.stm

Newsround UK current events

http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/uk

Environmental themes

The children’s section has many useful facts, activities and animations and includes sections on: air, energy, land, climate change, people and lifestyles, resources and waste, water and wildlife.

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/fun/?lang=_e

Mapping

An introduction for key stage 2 on how maps work and how to interpret them. It includes these 8 sections: starting mapping, symbols, compasses and directions, grid references, understanding scale, measuring distance, relief and contour lines and compass bearings.

http://mapzone.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/mapzone/index.html

Online mapping site which includes eye level ‘Streetview’

http://maps.google.co.uk/

Excellent site for global citizenship issues. Children’s pages include details of the history, geography and environment, people and society and a fact file for 14 countries), ‘children’ (exploring the lives of children in less developed countries) and ‘food’ (issues such as farming and fair trade).

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/coolplanet/kidsweb/index.htm