Coppice Farm Primary School

INTENT

The intent for our geography curriculum is to ensure that children build up a progressive knowledge of their local area and the wider world around them. Geography does not only look at the locality of places but also the people, places and environments we have on Planet Earth,

The aims of geography are:

• To inspire children to develop curiosity and wonder about the natural world around them.
• To provide pupils with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments.
• To develop children’s investigational skills, both academically and practically to ensure the transference of skills learnt in the classroom.
• To Increase pupils’ knowledge and understanding of the different communities and cultures within our local area and the wider world and to understand how these all relate to one another whilst fostering respectful attitudes to this.
• To develop pupils’ competence in specific geographical skills (such as use of maps, secondary sources, ICT, aerial photographs, data logging equipment and considering evidence from a range of sources).

IMPLEMENTATION

We teach the National Curriculum, supported by a clear skills and knowledge progression. This ensures that skills and knowledge are built on year by year and sequenced appropriately to maximise learning for all children.

As the children work their way through the school, their knowledge and skills develop in a progressive manner, allowing them to build on and broaden their prior learning.

Locational Knowledge – Within this, children name and locate the worlds continents, countries, oceans, and capital cities. As the children progress, they will look deeper into this, focusing on using maps to explore a countries environmental regions, mountain ranges, hills, coasts and rivers. They will look at land-use patterns and understand how some of these have changed over time. Children will also look at the position and significance of latitude, longitude, the Equator, Northern/Southern Hemisphere, the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, Arctic and Antarctic circle, the Prime/Greenwich Meridian and time zones.

Place Knowledge – Children should understand geographical similarities and differences through the study of human and physical geography. Within Key Stage 1 the children focus on a small area of the United Kingdom and a small area of a contrasting non-European country. In Key Stage 2, this further progresses to them looking at a region of the United Kingdom, a region in a European country and a region within North or South America.

Human and Physical Geography – In Key Stage 1, the children focus on identifying seasonal and daily weather patterns in the United Kingdom and the location of hot and cold areas of the world. They are able to recognise the difference between human and physical features. Physical - This progress from beach, cliff, coast, forest, hill, mountain, sea, ocean, river, soil, valley, vegetation, season and weather; to including climate zones, biomes and vegetation belts, rivers, mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes, and the water cycle in Key Stage 2. Human - city, town, village, factory, farm, house, office, port, harbour and shop progressing to types of settlement and land use, economic activity including trade links, and the distribution of natural resources including energy, food, minerals and water in Key Stage 2.

Geographical Skills and fieldwork – Children develop practical skills within this area of Geography, using atlases, maps and globes to identify countries, continents and oceans, furthering this in Key Stage 2 by using digital/computer mapping. Compass skills are also developed, initially looking at the 4 points, and progressing onto 8 points, also developing their directional language through map work, references, symbols and ordinance survey maps. The children will also have opportunities to use fieldwork and observational skills to study the school, surrounding areas in Key stage 1, furthering this in Key stage 2

Lessons are engaging and interactive and we immersive children into the practical skills of geography too by using appropriate equipment.

We have extensive grounds and use these when looking at skills such as fieldwork and orienteering. It is important that children develop the skills of a geographer by fully immersing them in all areas of the subject. This gives children an understanding of life outside of their locality. 

IMPACT

The impact on children's learning will be:

• To have a good knowledge of where places are and what they are like.
• To have a good level of understanding of how places and people are connected to one another. 
• To have a range of geographical vocabulary that children can use confidently. 
• To conduct a geographical enquiry which includes the use of questioning skills and effective analytical skills. 

Teachers will assess children’s work in geography by making assessments as they observe them working during lessons. They record the progress that children make by assessing the children’s work against the learning objectives from the national curriculum.