Rode Heath Primary SchoolGeography
A high-quality geography education should inspire in pupils, a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives.
Intent
At Rode Heath Primary School there are high expectations for all learners in Geography. Our scheme of work, based on the Kapow planning, aims to inspire pupils
to become curious and explorative thinkers, with a diverse knowledge of the world. We want our children to have a thorough understanding of the World around them and as the children progress through the school, we encourage them to “think like Geographers.” We want our pupils to develop the confidence to question and observe places, measure and record necessary data in various ways, and analyse and present their findings. Through our scheme of work, we aim to build an awareness of how Geography shapes our lives at multiple scales and over time. We hope to encourage pupils to become resourceful, active citizens who will have the skills to contribute to and improve the world around them. This links closely to our ‘Eco Team’, made up of children in Years 5 and 6,who actively contribute to making our school more environmentally sustainable. Our Geography scheme of work equips our children with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes. As children progress, their growing knowledge about the world should help them to deepen their understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes, and of the formation and use of landscapes and environments. Geographical knowledge, understanding and skills provide the framework and approaches that explain how the Earth’s features at different scales are shaped, interconnected and change over time. Therefore, Geography enables children to be aware of: knowledge, skills and cultural capital in order to have a broad and balanced view on the world.
Our scheme of work 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. In particular, 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.
• A deep interest and knowledge of pupils’ locality and how it differs from other areas of the world.
• A growing understanding of geographical concepts, terms and vocabulary.
Rode Heath Primary School’s Geography scheme of work enables children to meet the end of key stage attainment targets in the National curriculum. The
aims also align with those in the National curriculum. For EYFS, the activities allow pupils to work towards the ‘Understanding the world’ Development
matters statements and Early learning goals, while also covering foundational knowledge that will support them in their further Geography learning in Key
stage 1.
Implementation
The National curriculum organises the Geography attainment targets under four subheadings or strands:
• Locational knowledge
• Place knowledge
• Human and physical geography
• Geographical skills and fieldwork
Rode Heath Primary School’s Geography scheme has a clear progression of skills and knowledge within these four strands across each year group. Our Progression of skills and knowledge shows the skills taught within each year group and how these develop to ensure that attainment targets are securely met by the end of each key stage. Geographical key concepts are woven across all units rather than being taught discretely as seen in the Progression of key geographical concepts.
Our National curriculum coverage document shows which of our units cover each of the National curriculum attainment targets as well as each of the four strands in Key stage 1 and 2. The document also reflects which Development Matters statements and Early learning goals are met in each activity within the EYFS units. Our Geography curriculum is a spiral curriculum, with essential knowledge and skills revisited with increasing complexity, allowing pupils to revise and build on their previous learning. At Rode Heath Primary School, we believe prior knowledge to be of vital importance, in order for our children to be able to make connections and embed their learning; in other words, “making knowledge stick.” 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. The two EYFS units provide a solid foundation of geographical skills, knowledge and enquiry for children to transition successfully onto Key stage 1 Geography learning, whilst also working towards the Development matters statements and Early Learning Goals. Cross-curricular links are included throughout each unit, allowing children to make connections and apply their Geography skills to other areas of learning.
Our enquiry questions form the basis for our Key stage 1 and 2 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, further enforcing our aim to encourage our children to think critically and exploratively. In attempting to answer these questions, our children learn how to collect, interpret and represent 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 and embedded purposefully, rather than taught as a separate entity to geographical knowledge. Our units of work follow 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 pupils to 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. Furthermore, our children in Year 6 have the opportunity to create their own independent fieldwork enquiry, which further encourages them to become curious, explorative and reflective learners.
Our Geography lessons incorporate 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. Each lesson provides guidance for teachers on how to adapt their teaching to ensure that all pupils can access learning, and opportunities to stretch pupils’ learning are also available as required. Knowledge organisers for each unit support pupils in building a foundation of factual knowledge by encouraging recall of key facts and vocabulary. Strong subject knowledge is vital for staff to deliver a highly effective and robust Geography curriculum. Each unit of lessons includes multiple teacher videos to develop subject knowledge and support CPD. This means that our teachers are confident in delivering the Geography curriculum, and through support from the CPD and the subject leader, are able to deliver lessons of a high standard that ensure pupil progression. Our children get additional opportunity to practise and embed the skills that they have learnt in their Geography lessons on their residential trips. All children in Years 2,3,4,5 and 6 take part in a residential trip that allows them to take part in further fieldwork opportunities, as well as conducting fieldwork in places that are unfamiliar or different from their home setting.
Our Geography scheme of work is continually analysed and revised to ensure that a breadth and depth of content is explored as we live on a dynamic planet. The importance of and passion for Geography permeates throughout the school, for example through our ‘Eco Club’ and some of our children engaging in a “Sponsored Beach Clean”. Children should be aware of their planet on various scales: local, national and global, however we believe that they also need to be aware of the human impact on the planet: socially, economically and environmentally, in order to achieve sustainability: "Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Brundtland Report, 1987
Impact
An enquiry-based approach to learning allows our teachers to assess children against the National Curriculum expectations for Geography. The impact of our Geography scheme of learning can be constantly monitored through both formative and summative assessment opportunities. Each lesson includes guidance to support teachers in assessing pupils against the learning objectives. At the end of several of the Geography units, there are composite tasks, which assess the
children’s learning of the unit taught. Furthermore, each unit has a unit quiz and knowledge catcher, which can be used at the start or end of the unit to assess children’s understanding (or in many cases, both, to demonstrate the progression of knowledge), particularly in the modules without a composite task. Opportunities for children to present their findings using their geographical skills will also form part of the assessment process in each unit. In addition, we use our composite tasks at the end of a unit of work, to assess our children’s knowledge and understanding. These tasks have been specifically created to assess the knowledge and skills learnt in each unit. Our pupils should leave school equipped with a range of skills and knowledge to enable them to study Geography with confidence at Key stage 3 and continue to “think like a Geographer”. We hope 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 the physical.
The expected impact of our Primary Geography scheme of work 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.
● Understand how humans use the land for economic and trading purposes, including how the distribution of natural resources has shaped this.
● Develop an appreciation for how humans are impacted by and have evolved 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-figure grid 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 hemispheres, 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 ‘Understanding the World’ Early Learning Goals at the end of EYFS, and the end of key stage expectations outlined in the National curriculum for
Geography by the end of Year 2 and Year 6.