At Kirk Ella St. Andrew’s, we believe that geography is a subject that can
inspire children to learn about the world around them and their place within it.
We seek to create a life-long love for the subject that continues to develop
beyond primary school and may contribute to a successful career path for our
young explorers.
The geography curriculum at our school enables children to develop knowledge and skills that we hope will remain with our pupils. It is important to promote the children’s interest and understanding of diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes.
We aim to produce well-rounded individuals by providing our children with
opportunities to expand their cultural capital and experiences of the world.
Implementation
Based upon the National Curriculum and the individual needs of our children,
we have created a geography progression map which sets out the objectives
taught in each year group. Geography is taught in blocks and these are often
the key focus in providing inspiration for a half-term or term’s learning.
We are proud of the wonderful opportunities that we provide for our children in
the classroom, in the outdoors and on visits. First-hand experience is key to
learning and we try to provide as many opportunities as possible to engage
children in this way.
Our lessons are planned so that all our children are able to access lessons.
Where necessary and appropriate, teachers will differentiate to support the
needs of individuals, and provide opportunities that challenge our more able
pupils.
We understand that children can have different starting points, and some are
better at retaining knowledge than others. We often begin units with general
discussion to ascertain prior knowledge to inform where we go next. Locations
knowledge is revisited regularly by using our progression slides so that children
build up an understanding of the world around them that they will retain for
the future. Large display maps are also displayed around the school (in
classrooms, corridors and outdoors) that help feed the inquisitive nature of
children and can be used as a focus point for teaching.
The impact of our geography curriculum is measured in a variety of ways: questioning during lesson time, assessing children’s written work against the learning objective, listening to child-led discussion, interviewing pupils across the school about their learning, book scrutinies, and learning walks. We also use photos and videos of practical learning to help us measure the impact of our curriculum. By the end of the geography curriculum at Kirk Ella St. Andrew’s, we hope our children will:
- Have a growing knowledge of the world and their place in it.
- Have a wider vocabulary of geographical terms.
- Aspire to discover more about the world, through reading, travel or use
- of the media.
- Have a deeper understanding of their own impact on the world and a
- caring attitude towards it.
- Develop their geographical skills so they are able to use these in the next
- stage of their lives, and beyond.
The Geography Curriculum Overview
