Geography

This should be read in conjunction with the CRC and Respectful Relationships Policy.

CRC Article 28: All children have the right to an education.

All policy and practice in Timothy Hackworth Primary School respects children’s dignity.

Intent

At Timothy Hackworth Primary School, we aim to inspire all children to reach their full potential, academically, socially and emotionally. In Geography, this means ensuring a curriculum that is fully inclusive of all children; we are all geographers and want all our children to love Geography and to be able to use geographical procedural skills and substantive and disciplinary knowledge to make sense of the world around them.

Geography is a key element in the curriculum for many reasons. It enables pupils to question, describe, compile, collate, explain, compare, analyse, interpret, communicate, predict, evaluate and conclude. It enables them to think critically and provides opportunities to develop reasoning and problem-solving skills and to develop personal skills and qualities which are necessary in order to solve problems in the real world. It gives them opportunities to apply learnt geographical skills in different contexts across the curriculum, particularly alongside Maths, Science, Design and Technology, Art and Design and Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education. There is an opportunity for intellectual and creative learning as well as independent and co-operative learning. Through Geography, children develop an awareness of pattern and relationships which helps to form a deeper understanding of a situation.

At Timothy Hackworth Primary School, we aim for a high-quality, fully inclusive Geography curriculum, where pupils progressively gain the knowledge (substantive), understanding (disciplinary knowledge) and skills (procedural knowledge) to be confident and able Geographers.  Geography is, by nature, an investigative subject, which develops an understanding of concepts, knowledge and skills which should inspire, and promote, in pupils, a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people, which will remain with them for the rest of their lives. We want them to have no limits as to what their ambitions are and grow up wanting to be cartographers, town planners, conservationists or weather forecasters. We want them to embody our Timothy Hackworth Child.

Our teaching equips pupils with substantive knowledge and disciplinary knowledge about their own locality, country and world, considering diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments. As pupils progress, their growing knowledge about the world should help them to deepen their disciplinary knowledge and understanding of the interaction between the Earth’s key physical and human processes at different scales and how they are shaped, interconnected and change over time, and of the formation and use of landscapes and environments. The curriculum is designed to develop knowledge and skills that are progressive, as well as transferable, throughout their time at Timothy Hackworth Primary and into their further education and beyond.

We also want children to develop geographical skills and procedural knowledge: collecting and analysing data; using maps, globes, aerial photographs and digital mapping to name and identify countries, continents and oceans, and communicating information in a variety of ways. We want children to enjoy and love learning about Geography by gaining knowledge and skills, not just through experiences in the classroom, but also the through the use of fieldwork and educational visits.

Our Geography Curriculum is ambitious and empowers our children to become independent and resilient.   We believe that Geography helps to provoke and provide answers to questions about the natural and human aspects of the world. Children are encouraged to develop a greater understanding and knowledge of their own locality, country and of the world, as well as their place within it. The Geography Curriculum enables children to develop knowledge and skills that are transferable to other curriculum areas and which can, and are used to promote their Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural development. We want to equip them with, not only the minimum statutory requirements of the Geography National Curriculum, but to prepare them for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life. We want our children to learn from their own and others’ cultures, respect diversity, co-operate with one another and appreciate what they have. We achieve this by providing a strong SMSC curriculum, with British Values and our Timothy Hackworth Child placed at the heart of everything we do. We strive to ensure our pupils can demonstrate resilience, resourcefulness, reflectiveness and reciprocity and have the ambition to be successful learners.

At Timothy Hackworth Primary School, we aim to develop not only children’s substantive and procedural knowledge, but also their disciplinary knowledge, we want all children to think like Geographers and develop characteristics of a Geographer, by having:

• an excellent knowledge of where places are and what they are like;
• an excellent understanding of the ways in which places are interdependent and interconnected and how much human and physical environments are interrelated;
• to develop a deeper understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes;
• an extensive base of geographical knowledge and vocabulary;
• fluency in complex, geographical enquiry and the ability to apply questioning skills and to use effective analytical and presentational techniques;
• the ability to reach clear conclusions and develop a reasoned argument to explain findings;
• significant levels of originality, imagination and creativity as shown in interpretations and representations of the subject matter;
• a highly developed fieldwork and other geographical skills and techniques;
• an ability to interpret a range of sources of geographical information, including maps, diagrams, globes, aerial photographs and geographical information systems (GIS);
• an ability to communicate geographical information in a variety of ways, including through maps, numerical and quantitative skills and writing at length;
• a passion for and commitment to the subject, and a real sense of curiosity to find out about the world and the people who live within it;
• the ability to express well-balanced opinions, rooted in good knowledge and understanding about current and contemporary issues in society and the environment.

Through our Geography Curriculum we aim to:

• enable children to develop an awareness of the local environment and use appropriate vocabulary to describe human and physical features;
• arouse children’s curiosity by developing geographical procedural skills through use of the local area, fieldwork, observations and learning how to use, draw and interpret a range of maps;
• develop children’s substantive knowledge and disciplinary knowledge (understanding) of the human and physical process which shape places at a local, national and international level and explain their similarities and differences, interconnectedness and changes over time;
• encourage children to find their own way of carrying out tasks, considering imagination, initiative and flexibility. All children have the right to have their own talents and abilities developed to their full potential;
• enable children to work independently using their initiative or to work co-operatively in groups. All children have the right to have their ideas listened to and valued;
• provide challenge and a sense of achievement leading to pleasure and enjoyment. All children have the right to be the best that they can be.

Implementation

The Geography Curriculum is based upon the National Curriculum and from this, sequences of learning are carefully planned and developed so that new skills and knowledge are built upon previous skills and knowledge to enable consolidation and progression.  In ensuring high standards of teaching and learning in Geography, we implement a curriculum that is progressive throughout the whole school.

Geography is taught as part of a half-termly topic (alternating with History) with a discrete lesson each week, focusing on knowledge and skills. This helps to ensure that geographical subject matter can be revisited frequently, thereby improving the potential for our children to retain what they have been taught, to develop their long-term memory and thus improve the rate of progress they make. The Geography Curriculum, its learning opportunities and assessment criteria for each year group, have been carefully crafted to ensure progression and repetition in terms of embedding key learning, knowledge and skills.

As Geographers, children will gradually widen their sense of scale, from small and local, to large and global, and to develop fieldwork skills each year until they can plan, carry out and evaluate their own surveys. Within each year group, Geography strands are revisited in a progressive manner.

To stimulate children’s interest and to develop their questioning skills, children learn about their locality, carefully exploring human and physical geographical features through fieldwork. Children then build upon their substantive knowledge by comparing their lives in their locality to other parts of the United Kingdom and the rest of the world. As children grow and move through school, they will build upon their substantive knowledge and deepen their disciplinary knowledge (understanding) by considering the interactions between the human and physical forms and processes.
Cross-curricular outcomes in Geography are specifically planned for and teachers are encouraged to consider opportunities available to use the school grounds and the local area for fieldwork, to enable children to base learning on first-hand experiences.

The local rea is fully utilised to achieve the desired outcomes, with extensive opportunities for learning outside the classroom embedded in practice.

EYFS

We teach Geography in the Foundation Stage as an integral part of topic work. Geography makes a significant contribution to the ELG objectives of developing a child’s Understanding of the World.

Geography is sometimes used as a topic focus for the term, but we also aim to ensure that it is integrated into other areas of the curriculum and geographical skills are taught throughout the year through cross-curricular work. Most of the Geography is taught through children’s first-hand experiences, practical activities and through stories. Daily weather observations are made and seasonal features noted. Festivals and celebrations from around the world are observed and provide good opportunities to explore different places and participate in diverse cultures. There is also opportunity for regular Forest School sessions and visits in and around the local environment, which all children, from the 2-year-old provision to Reception, take part in.

KS1

Pupils develop knowledge about their locality, the United Kingdom and the world. They understand basic subject-specific vocabulary relating to human and physical geography and use geographical skills, including first-hand observation, to enhance their locational awareness. Units of work for each Year group, detailing geographical learning and National Curriculum coverage are clearly set out in the school’s Geography Overview.

KS2

Pupils extend their knowledge and understanding beyond the local area to include the United Kingdom and Europe, North and South America and wider global features. This will include the location and characteristics of a range of the world’s most significant human and physical features. They develop their use of geographical knowledge, understanding and skills to enhance their locational and place knowledge. Units of work for each year group, detailing geographical learning and National Curriculum coverage are clearly set out in the school’s Geography Overview.

Impact

Impact is measured by the child’s progress against their expected outcomes and their ability to meet the key aims of the National Curriculum for Geography. This will ensure that children at Timothy Hackworth Primary are equipped with geographical skills and knowledge that will help them explore, navigate and understand the world around them and their place within it and enable them to be ready for the curriculum at Key Stage 3, preparing them to become competent geographers in secondary education and for life as an adult in the wider world.

We want the children to have thoroughly enjoyed learning about Geography, therefore encouraging them to undertake new life experiences now and in the future.

Outcomes in children’s books evidence a broad and balanced Geography Curriculum and demonstrate children’s acquisition of identified key substantive knowledge.  They demonstrate an excellent level of knowledge of where places are and what they are like.  Children also convey an excellent understanding of the ways in which places are interdependent and interconnected and how much human and physical environments are interrelated.  Children demonstrate a deeper understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes and have an extensive base of geographical disciplinary knowledge and vocabulary.  Children have an increased fluency in complex, geographical enquiry and demonstrate the ability to apply questioning skills and to use effective analytical and presentational techniques.  Children are able to reach clear conclusions and have developed a reasoned argument to explain findings.  They display significant levels of originality, imagination and creativity as shown in interpretations and representations of the subject matter.  Children demonstrate a highly developed and frequently utilised set of fieldwork skills and other geographical procedural skills and techniques.  Children have the ability to interpret a range of sources of geographical information, including maps, diagrams, globes, aerial photographs and geographical information systems (GIS).  Children are also able to communicate geographical information in a variety of ways, including through maps, numerical and quantitative skills and writing at length.  Our children have a passion for and commitment to the subject, and a real sense of curiosity to find out about the world and the people who live within it.  They are able to express well-balanced opinions, rooted in good knowledge and understanding about current and contemporary issues in society and the environment.

As children progress throughout the school, they develop a deeper knowledge, understanding and appreciation of their local area and its place within the wider geographical context.

Where does food come from?

Today, as part of our ‘Where does our food come from?’ Geography topic, we calculated the food miles of a variety of fruits and vegetables.

The children enjoyed using iPads to research the countries the foods were grown in. They enjoyed tasting the foods even more!

The foods on our plate totalled almost 30,000 food miles. The closest were Braeburn Apples grown in Lincolnshire and the furthest was Sugarsnap Peas from Guatemala!