Geography at Friars
WHAT WE BELIEVE AND WHY
Geography teaching and learning provides a means of exploring, appreciating and understanding the world in which we live and how it has evolved. Geography explores the relationship between the Earth and its people. It stimulates curiosity and imagination and we aim to build upon every child’s ‘personal geography’ by developing geographical skills, understanding and knowledge through studying places and themes.
INTENT
The aim of our Geography curriculum is to:
- Develop children’s deeper understanding of both the human and physical world around them.
- Spark within children a lifelong curiosity and fascination about their world through active learning and enquiry.
- Encourage questions that look at how and why places change, how they compare to one another and how they are connected. This includes looking at how key physical and human processes impact the world.
- Allow children to gain geographical knowledge and skills through exploring and discovering their locality, using a range of creative mapping skills that over time broaden and enrich their understanding of the United Kingdom and the wider world.
IMPLEMENTATION
- Topic Web clearly outlines the skills and knowledge that the children will learn within the unit
- Knowledge Organisers are shared with parents and children, displayed on learning walls and used as a learning tool within children’s curriculum books
- Learning walls within classroom include: key vocabulary and key questions; images and maps relating to the unit; information that children want to find out;
- Learning Objectives reflect the specific geographical skills and knowledge being learnt and come directly from the geography progression of skills
- Skills and knowledge are built upon each year, following a clear progression across the different year groups
- Children are given the opportunity to gain skills and knowledge through a range of approaches. For example: exploring and learning geography through geographical enquiry, whole class discussion, active learning and creativity, role play and drama, good use of maps, fieldwork and a range of multimedia resources to support geographical learning and outdoor learning, independent research through homework projects; used and special trips and visitors to the school.
- Community links and partnerships are utilised to enhance the children’s learning experiences through projects, talks and field trips
- Learning is made memorable and captured using photos, QR coded videos of activities, quotations, learning reflections, thinking keys, QR coded discussions, drawings, diagrams, explanations, drama, various writing tasks, etc.
- Geography is taught once a term from Year 1 and each unit is half a term in length. There will be elements of geography additionally taught through the history curriculum.
IMPACT
- Once introduced in Autumn 2022, children will recall important facts related to the information outlined within Knowledge Organisers.
- Pupil voice surveys will show pupils developing their own opinions regarding various aspects of human, physical and environmental geography within the British Isles and parts of the world using accurate geographical vocabulary.
- Children’s progress will be assessed on a termly basis using the agreed progression of skills.
- Children working at Greater Depth in geography use reasoning within their arguments and to support their viewpoints using their knowledge.
- Learning journeys are clear and evident from looking at children’s workbooks.
- Pupils make links to prior learning and identify recurring themes both within geography and the wider curriculum.
- End-of-year pupils’ questionnaires will help to outline significant learning that has taken place and informs future teaching practice.