Geography

Intent

At Raddlebarn Primary School we believe that a high-quality Geography curriculum is vital for our children to inspire a curiosity and fascination about the world around them, both natural and human. Geography is, by nature, an investigative subject, which builds upon and consolidates the understanding of concepts, knowledge and skills. We strive for all children to develop a greater understanding and knowledge of the world, as well as their place in it. Alongside this we seek 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. The curriculum topics are designed with our aims in mind, to develop knowledge and skills that are progressive, as well as transferable, throughout their time at Raddlebarn and also to their further education and beyond.

Implementation

At Raddlebarn Geography is presented and taught in planned blocks across the school throughout the year to ensure coverage, providing the children with cross curricular links as well as the option to delve deeper into their learning. We are very fortunate to be situated in a diverse and progressive local area which is fully utilised to achieve the desired outcomes, with extensive opportunities for learning outside the classroom embedded in practice.

Staff at Raddlebarn have identified the key knowledge and skills required within each blocked topic and consideration has been given to ensure progression is planned, taught and learnt across the school. When a new topic is introduced children’s prior knowledge is assessed, as well as what they would like to find out and what methods they will use to do this. This informs planning and ensures that lessons are relevant, sequential and take account of differentiated starting points. This differentiation is key during the teaching and learning, to ensure the children are supported and challenged in line with the school’s commitment to inclusion. Strong cross curricular links are evident throughout planning particularly those between Geography, Maths and English.

Alongside developing their Geographical knowledge, we focus on providing the children with the opportunities to collect, analyse and communicate using a range of sources and information gathered through experiences of fieldwork, debate and discussions that deepen their understanding of geographical processes. The children are also taught to interpret a range of sources of geographical information, including maps, diagrams, globes, aerial photographs and Geographical Information Systems. Finally, they communicate and interpret geographical information in a variety of ways, including through maps, numerical and quantitative skills and writing at length.

To support teaching and learning, children are provided with a knowledge organiser created by the subject coordinator and this is given at the beginning of the topic for pre-tutoring. Throughout the topic children will then receive quick quizzes to assess their progression knowledge, skills and understanding.

When beginning a topic, a ‘child-led’ initiative is used to encourage the children to think independently and develop an ownership of their learning. Teachers facilitate and guide this process providing opportunities for the achievement of the objectives. Children also record what they have learned comparative to their starting points at the end of every topic developing a sense of achievement and evidencing small steps of progression in the wider view of great steps across the school. Children review their successes in achieving the lesson objectives at the end of every session and are actively encouraged to identify their own target areas.

Threaded through our teaching of Geography is SMSC which supports our ethos of created and enabling children to develop into world geographers and well as developing the skills and understanding to be mentally healthy. We are strong community links throughout out topics making best use of our local areas.

Impact

When looking at our English, Maths and Topic books across the school there is evidence of a broad and balanced Geography curriculum, which demonstrates the children’s acquisition of key knowledge, skills and a persona as a Geographer.

As we centre our focus on ‘child led’ learning within each topic this allows an opportunity for pupil discussion in the classroom where children can be seen sharing their understanding and enjoyment with others, as well as driving their own learning experiences. Pupil voice has confirmed the children’s engagement and intrigue with the topics chosen and therefore the high quality level of questions asked and learning by the children. When asked, children will recite their favourite topic and their reasonings behind this decision.

We are very fortunate in our positioning at Raddlebarn that we have access to many different areas of physical and human Geography. The impact of such is the use of our local environment throughout the curriculum to enhance the opportunities for ‘hands on Geography’ and the acquisition of knowledge and skills to create a depth of understanding for our learners.

Key Concepts

The key concepts that are studied and revisited in geography in each year group are:

Concept	Having a ‘sense of place’ – simply put, what is the place like? Having the locational knowledge to describe where there are – which continent or ocean? Which country? Which local street?
Place	This focuses on how we create a sense of place (patterns, behaviour and communication), the specific key human and physical aspects of a place created by a shared human experience. Place is also about geographical similarities and differences between places and the significance of location and links with other places at global and local scales of study.
Location	How natural and man-made places fit together in the jigsaw of the world. The names, locations and characteristics of these locations. How the environmental and human characteristics of places are influenced by their location, but also how the effects of location and distance from other places on people are being reduced by improvements in transport and communication technologies.
Geographical skills and fieldwork	This is about communicating geographical information in a variety of ways and interpreting geographical information e.g. maps and atlases. Examining how Earths features at different scales are shaped interconnected and change. Fieldwork enables pupils to have first-hand observation of human and physical features and processes and enhances their locational awareness. It gives hands on experience of using and developing geographical skills.
Environment	This considers how we use the natural world and how people have the ability to change it. The distribution of natural resources and the positive and negative interactions human behaviour has on the environment.
Physical and human processes	Looking at how people and events can change the physical and human world and the impact these have on the environment. Physical process – an event or sequence of events that occur naturally due to the power of the planet. Human process – things created/affected by people. These processes would not occur without human involvement.