Geography
Our Vision
To deliver the EYFS and national curriculum in the spirit it was written including:
- 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.
- 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.
- The development of active citizens who make a positive impact on the world in which they live.
Intent
Our aim at Pennington C of E Primary School is to inspire children to become curious and explorative thinkers with a diverse knowledge of the world; in other words, to think like a geographer. We want children to develop the confidence to question and observe places, measure and record necessary data in various ways, and analyse and present their findings. Through adapting the Kapow scheme of work, we aim to build an awareness of how geography shapes our lives at multiple scales and over time.
Our regular outdoor learning experiences and fieldwork will be at the heart of children’s geography learning. Children will begin to develop their fieldwork and observational skills by studying their school and its grounds before growing their skills across year groups and eventually carrying out a more detailed study of the local area in Key Stage 2.
Linking directly with our Christian values and Challenge Action Group, our aim is for children to become active citizens, growing up with the knowledge that they are guardians of the world and, as individuals, they can make a positive impact on the world in which they live. Geography will teach children to appreciate the diversity in the world among peoples and environments, developing tolerance, respect and compassion towards their global community.
Implementation
At Pennington, we follow a spiral curriculum, with essential knowledge and skills revisited with increasing complexity, allowing pupils to revise and build on their previous learning. By adapting the Kapow scheme of learning, we provide a clear progression of skills and knowledge across each year group, within the four strands of geography (locational knowledge, place knowledge, human and physical geography and geographical skills and fieldwork). The progression of skills and knowledge document 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. In Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2, each year group has three units of work timetabled throughout the year. The remaining 3 half terms are timetabled with History, providing a balance of humanities over the year.
Cross-curricular links are included throughout each unit, allowing children to make connections and apply their geographical skills to other areas of learning. Our enquiry questions form the basis for our units, meaning that pupils gain a solid understanding of geographical knowledge and skills by applying them to answer enquiry questions. Each unit contains elements of geographical skills and fieldwork to ensure that fieldwork skills are practised as often as possible.
At Pennington, children will have access to regular outdoor learning days and a fieldwork opportunity in every unit of work. Units follow an enquiry cycle that maps out the fieldwork process of question, observe, measure, record, and present, to reflect the elements mentioned in the EYFS framework and national curriculum. Developing fieldwork skills within the school environment and revisiting them in multiple units enables pupils to consolidate their understanding of various methods.
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. We create an inclusive teaching and learning environment through the use of explicit instruction, cognitive and metacognitive strategies, scaffolding of tasks/resources, flexible grouping, the use of technology and the effective deployment of support staff.
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 to ensure that they feel supported to deliver lessons of a high standard that ensure pupil progression.
Impact
At Pennington we follow an enquiry based approach to learning which allows teachers to assess children against the EYFS Early Learning Goals and national curriculum expectations for geography and impact can be constantly monitored through both formative and summative assessment opportunities. 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.
Opportunities for children to present their findings using their geographical skills will also form part of the assessment process in each unit. Progress will be tracked termly and monitored on Scholar Pack by class teachers.
Children should leave school equipped with a range of skills and knowledge to enable them to study geography with confidence at Key stage 3 and beyond. 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 following the Kapow 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.