Geography

Intent

The aim of Geography teaching here at Christ Church CE Primary School is to inspire our children to develop a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people. Our Geography curriculum will teach children to appreciate God’s wonderful world, encouraging them to stop and take note.

We want children to become active citizens, growing up with the knowledge that they are guardians of the world and, as individuals, they can make a positive impact to the world in which they live.

Geography will teach children to appreciate the diversity in the world among peoples and environments, developing tolerance, respect and compassion towards their global community.

Within our enquiry-led Geography curriculum, we seek to equip children with the skills, knowledge and understanding they need to think creatively and critically, to investigate and to ask questions to enable them to gain a greater understanding, knowledge and appreciation of the world and their place in it. At each stage of their geography education, children will deepen their locational knowledge, place knowledge and understanding of human and physical geography. Geographical skills will be built upon at each stage, providing children with distinctive tools with which to successfully navigate and engage with their world at a local, national and international level.

In addition to this, we are continually reviewing and refining our Geography curriculum to ensure that it carries on meeting the needs of the families and pupils here at Christ Church CE Primary School. We are exceptionally proud of our track record in continually promoting high standards and celebrating all faiths and backgrounds. We would like to continue with that momentum and have thus refined our curriculum offer so that it reflects, champions and celebrates the rich diversity in faith, cultural heritage and ethnicity within the 'Christ Church family'. Our aim is to continue to offer an exciting, broad and balanced curriculum so that it inspires and excites ALL members of our diverse school community.

The objectives of teaching Geography in our school are:

• To stimulate children’s interest in their surroundings and develop a knowledge and understanding of the physical and human processes which shape places.
• To increase children’s knowledge of other cultures and, in so doing, teach respect and understanding of what it means to be a positive citizen in a multi-cultural country.
• To provide learning opportunities that enthuse, engage, and motivate children to learn and foster a sense of curiosity and wonder at the beauty of the world around them.
• To encourage in children a commitment to sustainable development and an appreciation of what ‘global citizenship’ means.
• To make sense of their own surroundings through learning about their own locality and the interaction between people and the environment.
• To develop the geographical skills, including how to use, draw and interpret maps of different scales, and the vocabulary necessary to carry out effective geographical enquiry.
• To be able to apply map reading skills to globes and atlas maps and identify geographical features.
• To formulate appropriate questions, develop research skills and evaluate material to inform opinions.
• To enable children to work geographically in a range of appropriate contexts, using a variety of materials and equipment including other people’s experiences and knowledge.

Implementation

EYFS

The most relevant statements for Geography are taken from the following areas of learning:

• Understanding the World

Children develop their knowledge and understanding of the world through a range of hands on and outdoor learning experiences. Children learn about the world and its diverse people and places through the use of high-quality texts, visitors and technology. As geographers, children are encouraged to explore and take note of the world around them, using their senses to observe and talking about what they know and have learnt. Children learn through a range of self-initiated and adult directed tasks.

• EYFS Geography Overview

Key Stages 1 and 2

The teaching of Geography at Key Stage 1 and 2 follows the National Curriculum and is taught in discrete half termly topics. At each stage of a pupil’s Geography education, they will build upon their prior learning, recalling the knowledge and skills taught previously. Links to other curriculum areas are made where it will enhance the learning.

• KS1/2 Geography Overview

In each unit of Geography work that we teach, our aim is to reflect diversity through:

• All ethnic groups being represented, especially those demonstrated by the children’s own family history and heritage.
• Exploring our local area – Sparkbrook, Birmingham.
• What and who can we be proud of? Who are our local role models?
• Representing the roles of both males and females.
• Hearing all voices/viewpoints to an issue.

Running alongside this, there will be four ‘Golden’ Threads evident in our curriculum work, which are:

• Aspirations and Experiences
• Roots and Routes
• Love and Community
• Justice and Peace

The areas outlined above are just some of the ways in which we create our own unique ‘Christ Church’ curriculum.

Enrichment

We aim to enrich our pupils’ lives by offering a variety of experiences (educational visits, visiting speakers, workshops). In addition, we seek to enhance our pupils’ learning through developing positive, two-way relationships with our local community.

Inclusion

At our school we teach Geography to all children, whatever their ability and individual need. This is in accordance with the school’s curriculum policy of providing a broad, balanced and inclusive education to all children. Through our Geography teaching we provide learning opportunities that enable all pupils to make good progress. We strive hard to meet the needs of those pupils with special educational needs, those with disabilities, those with special gifts and talents, new arrivals and those learning English as an additional language, and we take all reasonable steps to achieve this. Pairing of less confident with more confident readers, having visual representations, word banks and word mats are just some of the ways in which we differentiate and cater for the needs of all children.

Impact

Assessment

Assessment in Geography takes place throughout lessons. Teachers listen carefully, observe, ask questions and review learning undertaken as part of their independent task. Within lessons, teachers are quick to identify any child who may need further support to develop the skills and knowledge necessary to achieve the lesson’s learning objective. Misconceptions are identified and addressed rapidly to ensure children made good progress. Teachers have a good understanding in the progression of Geography skills and knowledge and can use this knowledge confidently to extend and challenge high attaining pupils. Written or verbal feedback is given to the child to help guide his or her progress.

Children are also encouraged to assess their own learning and make judgments about how they can move their learning forward.

At the end of a whole unit of work, the teacher makes a summary judgement about the work produced. In order to assist these judgements, there is an end of unit quiz for children to complete. In addition to this, teaching staff use our school assessment system, Classroom Monitor which provides them with a skill assessment sheet which, when completed, indicates the children who have met, have not met or have exceeded age-related expectations for that geographical focus. We use this teacher assessment as a basis for assessing the progress of the child, and we pass this information on to the next teacher at the end of the year.