Geography
Intent
At Park End Primary School, we aim to provide a high-quality geography curriculum that will inspire pupils to become curious about the world and develop a fascination that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. It is essential that children are equipped with an understanding of the diversity of people, places, resources and natural and human environments, alongside the Earth’s key physical processes that create our world. Along side this knowledge, it is essential that children have an awareness of their effect on the planet and how sustainable practise can benefit the wider world.
At Park End Primary School, we aim for all pupils to:
- Develop an understanding of their local area and its place within the wider world.
- Understand how the key physical and human geographical features of the world have developed and change over time
- Build a set of geographical skills gathered through experiences of fieldwork that deepen their understanding of geographical processes.
- To understand their impact as global citizens and the importance of sustainable practise.
Implementation
Geography is a unique subject with its own set of core characteristics. In order to equip children with the essential skills and knowledge required, our curriculum is designed to cover all of the elements of the National Curriculum and is organised into a progression model which ensures that skills, vocabulary and knowledge are taught in a sequential way and repeated across all age groups. This is implemented through the three ‘Big Ideas’
- Investigating Places
- Investigating Patterns
- Communicate Geographically
Each of these ‘Big Ideas’ have their own objectives which link to the National Curriculum and are designed to build on and develop prior knowledge. All geography ‘topics’ will be taught in a two-year cycle within a developmental phase. In doing this, pupils can consolidate learning and knowledge and move from a basic level of understanding onto advancing and finally a deep comprehension of that geographical skill or concept. Through this cyclical structure, knowledge can transfer into the long-term memory and become learning.
In support of this, all staff will have an excellent understanding of children’s prior knowledge and use this to support children through the stages of understanding. In addition, teachers will model the use of subject-specific vocabulary, key geographical knowledge and fieldwork investigations. Children will be able to practise using topic-specific knowledge through a lesson structure that supports the regular review of key concepts to aid retention and recall of facts and vocabulary, committing these into long term memory and lifelong learning. Quizzes will be used throughout the school year to assess children’s progress and knowledge retention.
Impact
The geography curriculum is well planned and resourced. We will measure the impact of our curriculum through the following measures:
- Pupils will develop a wider understanding of the world and are confident and able to discuss what they have learned in geography using subject specific vocabulary.
- Pupils will develop a curiosity about geography and actively ask questions about the world in which they live.
- Pupils will demonstrate subject specific knowledge through the use of quizzes.
- Pupils will produce high standards of work which demonstrate their knowledge and skills.
- Pupils will have an awareness and understanding of their own impacts on the world and how to develop sustainable habits.
If you would like to discuss our curriculum in more detail, please contact Sharon Armes, Deputy Head Teacher and Curriculum Leader.
