Geography

At Gorseybrigg Primary School we teach Geography through our Creative Curriculum in order to engage and enthuse our children and to promote their passion for learning.

“An understanding of the natural world and what's in it is a source of not only a great curiosity but great fulfilment.” - David Attenborough

Intent

At Gorseybrigg Primary School, we want all our pupils to be inspired and engaged by a high quality geography education.

We aim to ignite children’s curiosity and interest by exploring the world that we live in and its people.
Through studying places, people and natural and human environments, we intend to equip children with geographical skills to develop their knowledge,
We intend to provoke thought and to encourage children to discover answers to their own questions through exploration and research to enable them to gain a greater understanding and knowledge of the world and their place in it.
We are committed to promoting depth of knowledge which is supported by the direct teaching of challenging, domain-specific geographical vocabulary to enable children to consider and articulate their developing understanding and opinions.

Implementation

In order to foster children’s curiosity about the world, interest and creativity, we are enthusiastic about geography and encourage children to explore and ask questions. Throughout the academic year, opportunities for developing geographical skills and knowledge are provided as an enhancement to the wider curriculum including but not limited to:

Studying fiction and non-fiction texts which explore place
Map work as part of history, outdoor learning, RE and adventurous activities in KS2
A whole school focus on climate change and caring for the environment
The study of place and its influence on the creative arts

In the Autumn term, the core geography curriculum is delivered during our school-wide geography focus. This subject-blocking offers pupils and teachers the time and focus to delve deeply into the geography skills, knowledge and vocabulary required for high quality learning and teaching. Each class focuses on one question during the term, which is chosen specifically to engage and inspire children in that age group. It is examined in depth and provides the main vehicle for the teaching of the essential skills of geographical enquiry, direction/location, drawing maps, using maps and scales and human and physical geography. Progression is embedded into our geography curriculum and described in detail in our geography skills progression map.

Leadership

We have two geography subject leaders in order to ensure coverage, continuity and progression throughout the whole school. They have a range of joint responsibilities:

To monitor and evaluate geography teaching and learning
To manage the geography budget effectively
To maintain the geography element of the School Improvement Plan
To liaise and consult with outside agencies, local clusters and community groups
To support and advise teachers in the planning and delivery of geography lessons
To maintain and monitor geography resources
To attend and disseminate training
To ensure membership of the geography teaching professional body is up to date and used in school

Impact

Learning

We want all children at our school to make excellent progress, achieve success and find enjoyment in geography. Our belief that geography is essential in helping all children make sense of their world guides the choice of activities and resources to promote active participation by everyone whatever their race, gender, economic status or ability. We strive to meet the needs of those pupils with special educational needs, disabilities, particular gifts and talents and children for whom English is an additional language so that everyone is able to fulfil their potential.

Our geography curriculum is filtered through our ‘big idea concepts’ so it has relevance for children’s understanding of our local, national and worldwide community. We hope that our pupils’ adult lives continue to be enhanced by their enjoyment and understanding of geography and offer our geography curriculum as a foundation for life-long learning and pleasure.

To achieve our high expectations and fulfil our commitment to excellence, we appreciate how crucial it is to engage with students in order to evaluate the impact of our provision. We regularly conduct pupil voice interviews and act on the outcomes. Using our in-year assessment model, we consider the attainment of individuals and use the results to set pupil targets.

Teaching

To inform excellence in geography teaching, we intend that teaching staff will develop a deep knowledge of the curriculum. To enable this, all teachers have access to our Geographical Association membership and participate in practical training sessions arranged in-house by our geography specialists. Assessment against the curriculum enables us to consider attainment and progress and adjust teaching accordingly, communicating achievement in geography to children’s new teachers. Regular monitoring including lesson observations, book-looks where appropriate and the checking of planning takes place in a supportive atmosphere where the emphasis is on improvement and the sharing of ideas.

Our Community

The curriculum is designed to value the depth and variety of both physical and human geography from all environments and cultures around the world. Children are taught to recognise and appreciate the differences and similarities between specific features whilst also developing an understanding of society. We look for opportunities to involve our local community, including parents and businesses, and to offer children ways to see geography in action by taking them outside to experience and investigate the world around them. Most importantly, we aim to show our children that this is a wonderful subject which can offer enjoyment for life as well as many opportunities in both their future education and in their possible choice of employment.

In Geography, we aim to give the children the opportunity to:

Develop a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them throughout their lives
Develop a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes and it’s diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments
Develop the geographical knowledge and language to explain how the
Earths features are shaped, interconnected and change over time
Explore the world around them and learn the skills needed to collect and analyse evidence and communicate their findings

Our Foundation Stage children:-

Learn about similarities and differences in relation to places, objects, materials and living things.

They talk about the features of their own immediate environment and how environments might vary from one another. They make observations of animals and plants and explain why some things occur, and talk about changes.

Our KS1 Children:-

Develop knowledge about the world, the United Kingdom and their locality.

They understand basic subject-specific vocabulary relating to human and physical geography and begin to use geographical skills, including first-hand observation, to enhance their locational awareness.

Our KS2 Children:-

Extend their knowledge and understanding beyond the local area to include the United Kingdom and Europe, North and South America.

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.