Geography 

Intent: “Know the Way” 

Our teaching will equip pupils with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes. Pupils will  gain an understanding of how dynamic the subject is due to our planet’s constantly changing state. Through geography lessons pupils will also be able to consider British values. For example, mutual respect, when learning about rainforest deforestation and thinking about our responsibilities to conserve resources and play our part in sustainable development, and tolerance through our understanding and respect for different cultures when learning about different places and people. 

Children will learn to think like geographers, drawing on new and prior knowledge and also making connections between scales, from local to global. Pupils will develop field work skills – collecting and analysing data and communicating their findings in a variety of ways (for example written reports, graphs and maps). Through the programme of study, pupils will use a range of geographical sources of information including: maps, diagrams, aerial photographs and digital mapping to support their geographical enquiries. 

Through our geography curriculum, we intend to foster a life-long curiosity about the world and the people in it. We aim to provide children with strong foundations in the discipline of geography so that they can continue to understand more about the Earth, the geographical processes that are constantly changing it and the human impact upon it.  

Implementation: “Show the Way” 

The three main organising concepts of geography are often said to be: place, space and environment. As defined in Primary Geography (the Geographical Association): 

• ‘Space’ – the location of points, features or regions in absolute and /or relative terms and the relationships, flows and patterns that connect and / or define them.  
• ‘Place’ – a construct that is defined in terms of what it is like, what happens there and how and why it is changing.  
• ‘Scale’ – the ‘zoom lens’ that enables us to view places from global to local levels. 

Our lesson sequences are planned to include elements of each of these three concepts within a creative framework, ‘Curriculum making is the creative art of interpreting curriculum specifications and turning it into a coherent scheme of work… it is a creative act that lies at the heart of good teaching’ (Action Plan for Geography, cited in Owens, 2010). 

Geography learning and engagement is also promoted through a range of learning experiences out of school (including for local fieldwork studies) – Benjamin Franklin: ‘Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn’. Throughout our geography curriculum children are given the opportunity to consider ways in which geography links to a variety of current careers including: researchers, meteorologists, conservationists, town planners, geologists, environmental scientists and seismologists.   

Our curriculum map has been designed to build on children’s previous geographical skills and knowledge and the use of geographical vocabulary is integral and progressive within our curriculum. Where relevant, links are made to high quality literary texts that help provide pupils with a context and geographical language through stories and other texts. In particular, stories are used to support early geography skills and understanding in the EYFS. Children have knowledge organisers to support their learning of each topic. There are opportunities within each scheme of work to assess pupils’ knowledge and understanding and monitor the children’s progress.  Formative assessment is used to address misconceptions or gaps in learning. Teachers use subject specific geography criteria to assess learning. 

Impact: “Grow the Way” 

Children at Thurlbear Primary school should: 

• Demonstrate enthusiasm and interest in further study and work in this field. 
• Locate the world’s countries, using maps and identify key physical and human characteristics of countries, and major cities 
• Name and locate counties and cities of the United Kingdom, geographical regions and their identifying human and physical characteristics 
• Understand geographical similarities and differences through the study of human and physical geography of different countries. 
• Describe and understand key aspects of human and physical geography. 
• Use subject specific language to show knowledge of location, place and geographical processes.  
• Have strong foundations in geography and fieldwork skills.  
• Achieve age related expectations in geography at the end of their cohort year.