Geography
Subject Leader: Sharon Campbell
Intent
Our geography curriculum is carefully organised from EYFS – Year 6 into the seven key geographical concepts shown below that will enable the children to develop as
geographers. To ensure that our pupil’s knowledge and understanding of geography develops, as well as their interests and curiosity about their surroundings and the
changing world, teachers ensure that lessons are question led. They get to use and apply appropriate subject vocabulary and geographical investigations and fieldwork are regular features within a unit of work.
Implementation
Our curriculum has been shaped around ‘key concepts’ within geography which children need to revisit as they progress through their schooling. These concepts cover: Significant Places; Space; Scale; Human and Physical Changes; Interdependence; Environment and Sustainability; and Cultural Understanding and Diversity.
These concepts are mapped through a range of areas of study and boosted by enquiry-based learning where children actively engage in learning through an enquiry question. An example of how enquiry questions differ in complexity and depth can be seen through the progression of the curriculum framework. Engaging activities, with a focus on practical, skills-based learning bring to life these concepts and questions. Pupils in Years 1 and 2 will be using skills of: recognition, identification, description, observation, selection, categorising, classification, sequencing and comparing and contrasting; Years 3 and 4 will add to these recalling, reasoning, speculation, summarising, synthesis, explaining and demonstrate understanding; Years 5 and 6 will further employs skills of empathy, informed conclusions, reasoned judgements, justification, application, evaluation, critiquing and hypothesising.
Our curriculum map ensures all teaching is concise, progressive and clear. Assessment opportunities allow us to ascertain areas of need within lesson-time and inform us of which topics and concepts need covering in further detail. In Geography, the enquiry question forms the ‘Learning Objective’ and develops knowledge that is substantive (fact-based), procedural (skills-based) or disciplinary (subject-specific) through clear steps to success.
Impact
At Little Bowden, teachers demonstrate clear knowledge and skills-based learning, via an enquiry question, that develops pupil understanding and application of key
geography concepts. Pupils experience deeper appreciation for their immediate space, its connectivity to other places, its scale within a global context, their interdependence on other systems, and the changes human and physical processes can have in the world. The hope is, amongst their head knowledge, is for pupils to extend their understanding towards informed, inquisitive and empathic individuals and being challenged in their humanity and values.
