‘The study of Geography is about more than just memorising places on a map. It is about understanding the complexity of our world, appreciating the diversity of cultures that exist across continents. And in the end, it’s about using all that knowledge to help bridge divide and bring people together.’ - Barack Obama

INTENT

We aim to:

• Help children to understand what makes our local area unique and special.
• Inspire in children a curiosity and fascination about the world and people within it.
• Develop children’s contextual knowledge of globally significant locations, including defining physical and human characteristics, and exploring how these provide a geographical context for understanding the actions of processes.
• Provide children with the opportunity to collect information, and to 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).

At Heatherside Junior School we teach to the DfE 2014 National Curriculum expectations, but also aim to inspire pupils to develop a passion for geography by ensuring exploring, enquiring, explaining and empowering underpins geography teaching in order to enable children to achieve academic and personal success.

'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. Teaching should equip pupils with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of Earth’s key physical and human processes. As pupils 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 Earth’s features at different scales are shaped, interconnected and change over time’ (DfE, 2013, p. 184).

We recognise that Geography can help equip children for the future and their place in the world by building on their knowledge, skills and understanding of key geographical skills during Key Stage Two. We want all pupils to achieve by connecting with and making informed decisions about the world from a position of evolving knowledge and understanding. Geographical knowledge and thinking will allow pupils decipher the complexities of the world around them and empower them to be considered and effective in their choices.

IMPLEMENTATION

We are dedicated to the teaching and delivery of a high-quality geography curriculum. To ensure high standards of teaching and learning in geography, we implement a curriculum that is progressive throughout the whole school, taking into account prior knowledge from our feeder Infant school at Heatherside Infant School to form the foundation for Key Stage Three.

Our geography curriculum comprises of four key strands; locational knowledge, place knowledge, human and physical geography and geographical skills and field work. These strands are interwoven into units of work taught throughout the school. Children develop their geographical vocabulary as they study these units. Each year group plan their own units of work using the Progression of Skills document to ensure National Curriculum coverage and appropriate advancement of knowledge and skills as the children move up through the school.

The key geography knowledge and skills that children acquire and develop throughout each block have been mapped to ensure progression between year groups. The geography curriculum is taught in response to enquiry questions which are aimed to be challenging and encourage active learning. Pupils will revisit geographical skills and knowledge in order to embed and deepen understanding.  We look to use the school grounds and the local area for fieldwork to enable children to base learning on first-hand experiences to enhance teaching and learning in Geography.

The children use a combination of digital and physical maps and atlases to develop their map skills. They develop an understanding that both physical and human aspects of geography are constantly evolving.  

Our learning values are embedded within the geography curriculum that we provide. In our lessons we aim to inspire children’s curiosity about geography. It requires collaboration, independence, critical thinking, creativity and reflection to ensure the best geographical skills and knowledge can be embedded. Pupils undertake geographical enquiry by gathering evidence throughout a unit to solve real and relevant problems within a variety of contexts.

Pupils are taught geography together in mixed ability classes to support all pupils to achieve. The expectation is that most pupils will move through the school’s subject overview at broadly the same pace. Scaffolded learning, differentiated tasks, additional support and challenge in lessons are provided for pupils of all abilities to enable them to access learning at their level and reach their full potential.

IMPACT

Formative assessment in geography takes place during each lesson. Oral feedback is provided to pupils as well as written feedback, related to the learning intentions and success criteria. Misconceptions are addressed and staff use the next lesson to ensure that pupils have the opportunity to work through their misconceptions and continue to apply the knowledge learnt.  Teachers make a summative assessment at the end of each term. The data gathered is used to inform planning and next steps. Pupils’ ability to recognise, compare, describe, explain and evaluate in the key geographical areas, underpin the assessment judgements made at our school.  They will become conscientious members of the community with an understanding of how their actions can impact on the environment.

Contribution to SMSC and British Values:

• Discussing the use of the world’s resources and the impact of different events on the lives of local people to deepen the children’s ability to understand and empathise.
• Supporting the tolerance, mutual respect and celebration of all peoples from diverse cultures, countries and background.
• Challenging poor representation of diversity and recognising the contributions of all the world’s peoples.
• Promoting an interest in all living things and creating a curiosity about the beauty of nature and the Earth.
• Encouraging an appreciation of our world and our place within that world, as well as our responsibility towards it.
• Allowing pupils to explore global moral and cultural issues - such as climate change, natural resources, deforestation and land use - and their impact upon us all and our planet’s future.