Geography
This is an extract from the Geography curriculum policy with information for parents (full policy available on request):
Curriculum Intent:
Geography provides a means of exploring, appreciating and understanding the world in which we live and how it has evolved. We value the importance of teaching current global issues, such as sustainability, and are confident to use specialist vocabulary. Teaching will equip pupils with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources, and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes. By revisiting these areas of learning regularly, children will remember more, know more, and understand more.
Pedagogy and Implementation:
Teaching and Organisation
At Seely, Geography is taught as part of ‘Topic-based Learning’ across all phases. Our topic-based learning curriculum focuses on clear links across foundation and core subjects, aiming for breadth across the whole curriculum. Sequences of learning build skills, knowledge and understanding over time from a knowledge base and teachers ensure children can articulate prior learning and current learning and that they can think about future learning. Practical hook sessions and experience days excite children into learning and help them remember key facts and vocabulary.
Geography lessons support lines of enquiry for an essential question each term. Teachers plan sequences of lessons across their unit that will build on and develop the children’s knowledge and skills. Children have access to key language, definitions and a range of primary and secondary resources, which promotes connections to be made across all core and foundation subjects where applicable. To develop their knowledge and understanding, pupils will access atlases, maps, digital technology, and photographs.
Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)
Most geography learning comes under Understanding the World in the EYFS. Children are supported in developing the knowledge, skills and understanding that help them to make sense of the world. Their learning is supported through offering opportunities for them to encounter a variety of maps, different people, and their cultures and to investigate their immediate and local environments – indoor and outdoor. Focused activities are planned to incorporate these opportunities. Provision, where children have the opportunity to engage in self-initiated activities in order to develop their geographic skills, curiosity and a widening vocabulary, is planned weekly.
Key Stage One (KS1)
The principal focus of geography teaching in Key Stage One at Seely is for all children to become more familiar with Nottingham and then the United Kingdom and where it belongs in the world. Learning about geography is through practical, first-hand experiences, wherever possible, and with the use of secondary sources, such as books, atlases, globes, photographs and videos.
Key Stage Two (KS2)
In Key Stage Two, the principal focus of geography teaching is to enable pupils to broaden their knowledge and understanding of physical and human processes in the world around them. They begin to use digital mapping systems and develop their map reading skills, until they can use 6-figure grid references. As much as possible, teaching is through hands-on, outdoor experiences and begins to use a wider range of secondary sources, such as diagrams and graphs. Children have increasing opportunities to collect and interpret geographical data.
Access for all
We make sure that all children access the Geography curriculum and achieve success, therefore ensuring that adapted tasks where pertinent allow them to develop and extend their depth of knowledge and understanding so that they can demonstrate successfully what they know, understand and can do.
Wider Curriculum
Each year there is a local environment study in the summer term, so that children are accumulating fieldwork skills and knowledge about their locality.
Eco Warrior pupil leaders across KS1 and KS2 work hard to reduce energy waste in school (including food, paper and plastics) and work alongside the Geography subject leader to ensure our curriculum is inclusive of environmental education. Seely is currently working towards Eco School accreditation.
The Seely Mastermind Quiz takes place twice a year to quiz children on general knowledge facts, with a vast number of Geography questions.
