Geography

OUR AIMS

We want our pupils to:

• Respect themselves, respect others, respect all property, and respect their community and the World around them.
• Have a positive attitude that encourages self-belief and confidence
• Achieve high standards in all areas of the curriculum.
• Respond to challenges and seize new experiences whole–heartedly.
• Take an active lead in their own learning and development throughout their life.
• Develop the spirit of enquiry leading to life-long learning.

OUR VISION FOR THIS SUBJECT

At Cheswick Green Primary, we want the study of Geography to stimulate an interest in and develop a sense of wonder about, our dynamically changing world. Our aim is, for all pupils to have an understanding of the world in which they live, both their local area and the world beyond, and an appreciation of the natural world. We want our pupils to become accountable citizens, understanding their role in protecting our world and environment and knowing how they can cause positive change and development as they grow.

CURRICULUM INTENT 

At Cheswick Green Primary, we want to inspire our children to develop a passion for the subject. We want to spark our children’s curiosity and fascination about the world and its people, so that it will remain with them for the rest of their lives.

Children will investigate a range of places both in Britain and abroad – to help develop their knowledge and understanding of the Earth’s physical and human processes. We are committed to providing children with opportunities to investigate and make enquiries about their local area here in Cheswick Green and the West Midlands, so they can develop a real sense of who they are, their heritage and what makes our local area unique and special.

Our aim is to equip our pupils with geographical enquiry skills, key lifelong knowledge and subject specific vocabulary. Our goal is to embed this knowledge through a challenging, knowledge rich curriculum delivered through high quality teaching and learning opportunities which culminates in children producing high quality outcomes.

CURRICULUM IMPLEMENTATION 

At Cheswick Green Primary, we follow the Oddizzi Total Geography scheme of work, to deliver the National Curriculum for Geography, because it is well-sequenced, with a clear progression in knowledge, skills, concepts and vocabulary and links to other curriculum subjects.

The scheme of work provides engaging resources to support the teaching and learning in Geography. It also offers comprehensive coverage through three Geography-led topics each year in greater depth. In KS1 and KS2, Geography will be taught either each week or in a block of lessons. Our pupils will accumulate skills and knowledge as they progress. Skills and knowledge acquired in the autumn and spring terms feed into a place-based study in the summer term.

Our knowledge rich Geography curriculum is designed to help pupils remember what they have learned and builds upon previous learning. Key skills and key facts are revisited at different points within each year and across year groups.

Knowledge organisers, which outline the key knowledge and vocabulary that we want our children to master and apply, are used to support both the teaching and learning of topics. Where possible, topics are displayed on walls in classrooms.

In EYFS, our children are taught the knowledge and skills for ‘People and Communities’ and ‘The World’ using a thematic approach outlined in our EYFS Curriculum for Understanding the World (see EYFS Curriculum). They will explore these geographical themes through a child-centred approach. Our children will be encouraged to develop a sense of their physical world as well as their community, and provided with opportunities to explore, observe and find out about people, places and the environment around them.

Well planned enhancement opportunities such as, our creative ‘off timetable’ days, school trips, workshops, parent shares and sometimes project-based homework activities take place throughout the school year to give our children wider opportunities for growth. 

Moving forwards with Geography, we want to offer more CPD opportunities for staff to ensure that their own subject knowledge and skills are up to date and continuously evolving. The school’s new access to the National College courses will provide some of these opportunities. The Geography subject leader is given the opportunity to attend Synergy collaborative meetings with other humanities co-ordinators where best practice is shared and CPD offered from a lead humanities practitioner.

Progression & Assessment

Progression is mapped out across year groups from Year 1 through to Year 6. Sequences of lessons are taught using enquiry themed key questions and learning objectives that inspire active learning and challenge for all, across the year groups. In EYFS, geography themes are linked to the Scheme of Work for KS1 to ensure progression as pupils move from EYFS to KS1.

In KS1 and KS2, summative assessment takes place through the use of Oddizzi’s End of Topic Assessments. These allow staff to monitor pupils' outcomes and tailor further support to those who require it. Oddizzi’s Show What You Know Assessments help us as teachers to evaluate how much our pupils have learnt during a topic.

In EYFS, regular observations and assessments of learning are recorded using, Evidence Me, an online journal and contribute to a summative assessment at the end of EYFS using the Early Years Outcomes for Understanding the World: ‘People and Communities’ and ‘The World’.

The Geography subject leader is responsible for the continuous monitoring our Geography curriculum and will assess the quality of provision through:

• - Book Scrutinies
• - Pupil discussions
• - Informal drop-ins and teacher discussions

CURRICULUM IMPACT 

A portfolio of work from across school will be built up this year, to show examples of the range of work done and evidence of progression.

The impact of our Geography curriculum will be reviewed (during the year and at the end of the year), through assessments of pupils’ learning to identify how much knowledge they have gained and remembered over time. Oddizzi provides these opportunities for assessment.

We also monitor the progression of Geography skills taught, against the key knowledge for each topic.

Over time, as our Oddizzi scheme become more fully embedded and our children grow as geographers, our intended impact of our Geography curriculum is outlined below:

1. An inclusive curriculum which meets the needs of all learners;
2. Children have an excellent knowledge of where places are and what they look like in both Britain and the wider world;
3. Children have a comprehensive understanding of the ways in which places are interdependent and interconnected;
4. Children have an extensive base of geographical knowledge and vocabulary;
5. Children have the ability to reach clear conclusions and explain their findings;
6. Children have excellent fieldwork skills as well as other geographical techniques;
7. Children have the ability to express well-balance opinions, rooted in very good knowledge and understanding about current issues in society and the environment;
8. Children have a genuine interest in the subject and real sense of curiosity about the world and the people who live here recognising the part they play within it.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES IN GEOGRAPHY           

At Cheswick Green Primary, we believe Geography education should be fully inclusive to every child. Where children have a physical disability or have SEND, we aim to provide resources and learning experiences that will support their learning in Geography. We do this by setting suitable learning challenges, responding to each child’s different needs and providing learning opportunities that enable all pupils to make progress.

Activities should be carefully planned by the class teacher and be differentiated where appropriate for children with SEN and equally the more able and Gifted and Talented children. All resources/materials have been reviewed with equal opportunities in mind, e.g. race, gender, ethnicity. Learning experiences in Geography will be available to every child, regardless of race, gender, class or ability. Pupils will be encouraged to value social and cultural diversity through musical experiences. They will listen to, and participate in, a variety of experiences in a positive and constructive role.

INCLUSION

Inclusion is about every child having educational needs, that every child is special and the school is meeting these diverse needs in order to ensure the active participation and progress of all children in their learning.

Inclusive practice in Geography should enable all children to achieve their best possible standard; whatever their ability, and irrespective of gender, ethnic, social or cultural background, home language or any other aspect that could affect their participation in, or progress in their learning.

We recognise that in all classes, children have a wide range of geographical ability, and so we seek to provide suitable learning opportunities for all children by matching the challenge of the task to the ability of the child. We achieve this in a variety of ways:

• planning sensory and kinaesthetic activities, where possible;
• adapting maps for any visual impairments;
• setting tasks which are open-ended and can have a variety of responses;
• setting tasks of increasing difficulty;
• grouping children in mixed ability groups;
• providing resources of different complexity, depending on the ability of the child;
• using classroom assistants to support the work of individuals or groups of children.