Geography
Intent
The geography curriculum at Eastfield Primary school will:
Deliver a high-quality geography education which inspires in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the human and physical aspects of the world and its people that will remain with them for life; and to promote the children’s interest and understanding of diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments through the big concepts of geography which are:
- Place
- Space
- Scale
- Interdependence
- Physical and Human Processes
- Environmental Impact
- Sustainable Development
- Cultural Awareness
- Cultural Diversity
Children are encouraged to develop a greater understanding and knowledge of the world, as well as their place in it.
The curriculum will draw on providing opportunity for pupils to develop and secure the fundamental values of character in order to empower pupils to be change-makers to create a better world.
Implementation
Our geography curriculum specifies the substantive knowledge to be taught (place knowledge, locational knowledge, human, physical and environmental knowledge and geographical skills).
We develop disciplinary knowledge to work in harmony within each strand of substantive knowledge so that the children are given the opportunity to think and act like geographers.
Map reading skills are carefully sequenced across the school from EYFS to year 6. Progression of skills includes interpreting a range of maps, developing spatial thinking and increasing their understanding of how places are connected.
The geography curriculum begins in the Foundation Stage where children begin to develop a sense of place and acquire a wide range of geographical vocabulary. Through the aspect, Understanding the World, children will be encouraged to make sense of their physical world and their community.
The curriculum is carefully crafted in a near to far approach to enable children to build on their conceptual understanding of their immediate environment in order to make links to places and environments further afield. The curriculum is designed for children to remember the key content from lessons by either revisiting concepts and knowledge in future units of work or building skilfully on prior learning.
Use of fieldwork outside of the classroom is regularly addressed to immerse children in the key content of their learning, to encourage children to think and act like geographers.
Resources are carefully chosen to exemplify key geographical concepts and provide a rounded picture of a place.
Assessment opportunities are carefully chosen to fuse both substantive and disciplinary knowledge in order to develop children’s geographical understanding of the big geographical concepts.
Impact
Outcomes in geography evidence a broad and balanced curriculum which covers the big concepts of this subject and demonstrates pupils’ abilities to recall substantive geographical knowledge and think and act like geographers.
