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Geography

Intent

Our geography curriculum is developed from the National Curriculum for Geography at Key Stages One and Two.  The key knowledge for each topic or theme is set out in the Long Term Planning documents for each Milestone along with key vocabulary and suggestions for activities that will develop children’s understanding of geographical concepts, enquiry and investigating questions and issues. These documents are then used to form Medium Term Planning documents that underpin the teaching and learning of each geographical inquiry. In Key Stage 2, key themes that can be explored across the topics or locations studied are identified.

Implementation

How do we deliver Geography at Crookhill Primary School?

  • Geography is studied across the year in blocks of termly or half-termly units.
  • Each unit of geography covers a different geographical location/country and develops lines of enquiry for physical and human geography.
  • These lessons are usually delivered weekly. 
  • We use a range of resources but do not follow a particular scheme to deliver geography. 
  • Geography is sometimes taught alongside other subjects, for example links may be made to Art and Design or Design Technology units of work. 
  • We deliver geography lessons using a range of different types of activities including but not limited to: teacher led activities, guided research, use of appropriate audio-visual resources.
  • We regularly revisit the content of lessons (and previous learning from prior year groups) to ensure that learning is embedded. 
  • Where possible, we take pupils on education visits or invite visitors into the classroom in order to enhance the learning.

Impact

We believe that progression in geography require all aspects of the discipline to be developed.  Geographical knowledge is developed alongside the geographical skills and concepts.  Key knowledge can be assessed through map work, retrieval quizzes and activities or end of unit topic quizzes.  The skills / concepts of data collection and analysis, vocabulary and enquiry through asking questions are more subtle and assessment of these skills will be ongoing throughout the Milestone that the children are working within. 

An ongoing record of these skills and concepts is kept in order to build up a picture throughout the Milestone phase the child is working in.  Milestone assessment sheets give suggestions to staff of how information can be collected through assessment activities which will help to build a picture of each child or cohort’s current level of understanding.  The aim is to build a narrative for each child or group rather than to collect data.  This information can then be shared with the next year group’s teacher who can build upon the starting points of the class. 

At Crookhill Primary we believe by becoming geographers, children will develop a coherent knowledge and understanding of local, British and world geography, both human and physical, to help them to further understand the world around them and how it came to be. Pupils will acquire a wide range of geographical skills and develop their understanding of people and their communities, cultures, economies, and interactions with the environment as well as processes and patterns in the natural environment.

Through the study of geography, we can allow children to learn about places and the relationships between people and their environments. Geographers explore both the physical properties of Earth’s surface and the human societies spread across it. It is vital that all children are engaged and immersed in their geography learning, in order to develop their understanding of the world around them.