Geography

Geography quote

Intent

As geographers, our children at Belton CE Primary School will gain a depth and breadth of knowledge and understanding of the world, its environments and places both near and far, and the processes that create and affect them both human and physical. Our geography curriculum encourages children to appreciate and understand how the world works and the interconnections between communities and cultures as well as allowing them to consider how they can themselves be respectful, sensitive and accepting of the world.  As a small and non- diverse village school our geography curriculum is also designed to enable pupils to: grow in their global understanding of different cultures, to challenge stereotypes and to appreciate diversity.

We believe children are active participants and investigators within geography and value fieldwork as an essential part of the curriculum allowing them to explore, make connections and comparisons and identify patterns and changes. Geographical enquiry and skills are embedded throughout teaching to ensure skills are transferable and progressive. Our curriculum allows our children exposure to experiences they wouldn’t otherwise have access to in order to gain a greater understanding of the wider world through the use of primary sources such as field work and secondary sources such as digital and physical maps, atlases, globes, photographs and books.

Being a small village school, we want the children to be excited about the possibilities of what the world has in store for them to explore and experience. Children should leave Belton with a sense of their place in the world, both culturally and physically, and a desire to enquire into the world around them. We want to ensure that the children can be the best they can be and become responsible, confident individuals who are equipped for the future.

Underpinning our whole curriculum and in order to develop high levels of social and emotional intelligence, all pupils progressively learn to develop knowledge and skills in order to be able to be, resilient, reflective, collaborative, curious, imaginative and committed to learning. This is embedded through our use of learning powers.

 

Implementation 

Our Early Years Foundation Stage pupils will experience provision linked to Understanding of the World. Learning will include the use of simple maps, exploring the natural world as well as learning about people, culture and communities. Pupils will learn Geography through playing, exploring, active learning, creating and thinking critically (the Characteristics of Effective Learning). There are many opportunities for cross curricular learning, such as linking Geography to Science when learning about the seasons.

From Year 1 to Year 6, staff at Belton C of E Primary School teach the aims and subject content of the National Curriculum 2014. Geography is taught discretely once per week in alternate terms (a total of 3 enquiries per academic year). To support our young Geographers, we use ‘The Connected Curriculum’ by David Weatherly. This ensures coverage and progression in all skills and knowledge relating to Geography. We plan an opportunity within each session to revisit geographical knowledge, skills and understanding that may need further consolidation or to use new knowledge to enforce prior skills. Through the enquiries within the scheme the children develop an understanding of the world as a whole and this can be seen through our knowledge maps which are stuck in children's books.

In every Geography lesson, it is made explicit to pupils that they are being taught Geography. Specifically named Geography knowledge, skills and understanding are also referred to throughout the enquiries: locational knowledge, place knowledge, human features, physical features, map skills, compass skills and fieldwork skills. It is expected that the pupils will become familiar with these terms as they progress through the school.

In addition to this, staff understand that the pupils will progress through transferable learning skills in order to develop as Geographers. For example, pupils in Year 1 will be expected to identify, locate and name. Year 2 will describe and begin to explain. A Geographer in Year 6 will compare, contrast and give reasons in their lessons. These are the specific skills that the teachers will assess.

Through the use of the Geography Progression Document, teachers can become familiar with previous and subsequent year groups’ content in order to link learning, close gaps and build on previous knowledge.

Due to the numbers on roll, we use a rolling programme of planning as we have mixed age classes. When planning each enquiry, teaching staff ensure that the outcome for each year group is pedagogically appropriate, taking all of the above into consideration.

Where possible, field trips are used to enhance cultural capital, particularly of the local area. 

Impact 

Pupils have a growing knowledge and understanding of their place in the world, how they interact with the world and the impact that they make around them. Our pupils are confident Geographers, with the ability to discuss their learning from past and current topics, as well as explain their next steps.

Each enquiry which forms our programme of learning and teaching in geography sets clear objectives and outcomes for the pupils in terms of knowledge and understanding and skills acquisition. 

Our pupils gain an increasingly complex range of critical thinking skills that transfer across the curriculum.

Every pupil is challenged to achieve their Geographical potential through carefully planned, motivating enquiries based on a mastery approach.

Geography in Action
 
Come and have a look at Geography in action at our school
Websites to help your child with Geography
 
BBC KS2: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zbkw2hv
BBC KS1:- https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zcdqxnb
National Geographic:- https://www.natgeokids.com/uk/teacher-category/geography/
Biomes of the world:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6X9fTPSbQ0U
 
Fieldwork
 
We undertook a range of activities for National Fieldwork in June. These ranged from comparing the weather between Belton and Florida and creating tally charts of minibeasts in different areas of the school grounds.
Children have also undertaken fieldwork through our weekly forest school sessions through sounds maps, learning about rocks and soils on our grounds and the animals that live there.