Geography
We are Geographers
Intent
At Asquith primary school, we want our students to be interested, excited and knowledgeable about the world in which they live. Our curriculum is designed to encourage curiosity, supporting our children to be inquisitive about the local area and the wider world, to ask questions and to learn about the diversity of people, places, natural and human environments. We teach geographical skills and knowledge in a systematic way, beginning with the local area and moving to the wider world. This enables children to relate to something that they have a concrete knowledge of before considering more abstract concepts. Through our curriculum children will gain a solid foundation of geographical skills and locational knowledge.
Our geography curriculum aims to:
Deliver the National Curriculum and EYFS Framework ensuring all pupils:
Observe the world around and notice changes through the year.
Develop locational knowledge about the world.
Acquire place knowledge allowing them to understand and describe geographical similarities and differences between places.
Identify, describe and understand human and physical geography using effective vocabulary.
Learn and apply a full range of geographical skills
Promote Wonderful Words
Explicitly teach geographical vocabulary and revisit these words regularly so that they become embedded.
Give our students a rich geographical vocabulary that will enable them to express their thought, ideas and understanding of the exciting world we live in.
Develop children’s oracy skills so that they can ask well thought out questions and present their views and findings about key geographical issues.
Develop Readers for life
Enhance geographical learning and a curiosity about the world through a wide range of high quality texts.
Encourage children to read a range of fiction and non-fiction books to open their eyes to different cultures, places and environments whilst fostering a lasting curiosity about the world.
Provide Opportunities
Give children hands-on, practical experience of using their geographical skills to research, measure, map and analyse. We do not just give children information, we teach them the skills to discover it for themselves.
Use well-planned fieldwork to enable our children to be geographers, outside of the classroom, exploring the geography that is all around us.
Encourage our geographers to ask questions, use their geographical skills to discover the answers and then present their findings and conclusions to others.
Encourage Pupils to Dream Big
Engage, encourage and support all of our pupils with good quality teaching, inspiring lessons and adaptations where needed.
Show our pupils their role in the local area and the impact they can have on the wider world.
Open children’s eyes to some of the amazing places that exist in our world and some of the job opportunities that there are linked to geography.
Rooted in Our School Values
Through the teaching of geography, we embed our core school values:
Determination – developing perseverance to complete tasks even when they are challenging. Setting goals as individuals and as a school to become more sustainable.
Honesty – presenting data and findings truthfully even if they contradict our original hypothesis.
Responsibility – taking ownership of their learning, looking after resources and using them correctly, understanding how individual choices and collective decisions have local and global impacts.
Respect – respecting all people, cultures and countries. Respecting our environment during fieldwork and in day-to-day life, learning the positive ways we can impact it
Understanding – learning about other cultures and countries and being respectful of differences.
Cooperation – Working together to plan and carryout work in the classroom as well as fieldwork, listening to others and sharing responsibilities.
Intent - Aims
Know and understand our local geography, where Mansfield is and how we fit into the wider world.
Learn about the diversity of people, places, physical and human geography and be excited and inquisitive about where they live and the wider world.
Gain geographical skills which we use in our fieldwork to ask and answer questions by observing, measuring, navigating, identifying, recording, presenting, analysing and describing the world around us.
Gain geographical perspective by placing their growing knowledge about different features and areas into the wider context, understanding local, national and international links as well as changes over time.
Learn and use the geographical vocabulary needed to describe, question and discuss the world and its features.
Understand and practice sustainability. Reuse, recycle and reduce in everyday life, understanding the positive impacts that these things will have locally and further afield.
Implementation
Topics and lessons focus on the integration of disciplinary knowledge and substantive knowledge
Topics are inspiring and build upon previously taught knowledge and skills, beginning with the local area and moving to the wider world. This enables children to relate to something that they have a concrete knowledge of before considering more abstract concepts.
Geographical skills and knowledge are revisited and recalled regularly, then they are built upon so that links are made and learning becomes embedded, supporting children to know more and remember more.
We are lucky, at Asquith, to have many families who have joined us from Nigeria. In year 2 we take a closer look at Calabar in Nigeria and contrast it with Mansfield. This inspires curiosity about the world and allows children to share their own knowledge.
Our ‘Wonderful Words’ driver is evident with lessons incorporating a range of geographical vocab that will enable children to understand and talk about the world and its features.
Skills are taught in the classroom and then applied in ‘real-world’ situations where children become geographers, using their skills to answer questions and extending their geographical thinking. We provide opportunities for children to practise until they reach fluency with their geographical skills.
We make full use of our local area and also go further afield to explore geography first hand and apply the geographical skills we have learnt. Children gain first-hand, practical experiences which supports and reinforces the knowledge, skills and concepts taught in the classroom. These memorable fieldwork experiences support long-term learning and recall. We know from talking to our pupils, that they love these opportunities to applying their skills outside of the classroom.
As with all teaching and learning at Asquith Primary, geography lessons take into consideration the needs of all pupils including SEND children and EAL children and adaptations are made to enable all children to achieve their full potential and show their geographical knowledge.
Sustainability is a key theme at Asquith, running through not only geography but all aspects of school life. Children learn about the impact humans are having in the world both locally and on a global scale. Throughout school we reuse, reduce and recycle. All classes are actively involved in recycling and composting, reducing our waste and using less electricity. Our Eco Group support, monitor, implement and educate others on ways to help the environment.
Our Forest School lessons in EYFS and KS1 reinforce our sustainability theme and encourage children to explore the natural world, notice changes, ask questions and try new things. These sessions are led by our qualified forest school leader.
Assessment
Assessment for learning, through regular well planned review sessions, ‘ticket to exit’ recall questions, independent tasks, focussed questioning and quizzes inform future planning so that we can pick up on misconceptions, fill gaps in learning and ensure children make good progress.
We have set out five or six focus objectives for each unit which we want children to know. These are knowledge and skills that will help them with future learning and allow them to make links and build an understanding of key geographical themes. These are what we will assess against after each unit of work.
Impact
By the end of year 6 our geographers will:
have a deeper knowledge, understanding and appreciation of their local area, the town of Mansfield and how Mansfield fits into the wider geographical context.
have a curiosity about the world and the people in it, appreciating the similarities and differences between people, places and over time.
have made links in their geographical learning, building a more holistic understanding of how the world works.
have a wide geographical vocabulary which they use to talk about the world around them and key geographical issues.
understand the impact humans are having on the environment, both locally and globally, and they will know how they can make a positive difference.
understand what sustainability is and know the different things they can do to make a positive impact.
have learnt and developed a range of geographical skills which they can use to find out more about a place, ask and answer questions and present their findings, drawing conclusions about what they have discovered.
be equipped with the geographical skills and knowledge they will need for secondary school and for life in the wider world, making them informed, responsible members of society.
