Intent
At Clipstone Brook Lower School, we aim to ensure that our children have a secure understanding of the world that they live in. We want them to develop a curiosity and a fascination about the world and its people, which will remain with them for the rest of their lives. We strive to ensure our children have knowledge about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human processes. We aim to deepen their understanding of the interaction between human and physical processes and how our world has been shaped in forms of landscape and different environments. Through their work in geography, we want children to learn about their local area and compare their life in this area with that in other regions in the United Kingdom and in the rest of the world. We want our children to be familiar with the local surroundings through visits and references to the local area.
Implementation
Our aim is to ignite this curiosity at an early age in EYFS, through Understanding the World, where children begin learning about the human and physical geography all around them. We then use the milestones created by Chris Quigley Education, in conjunction with our planning to ensure the children develop their knowledge and skills as they move from Early Years through to Key Stage 1 and 2.
When the children leave and embark on their middle school education, our aim is to have developed young geographers who have:
What approach do we take to teaching Geography?
Geography is taught through a subject-focused approach. Our medium-term plans then identify how teaching will ensure coverage of key knowledge and skills across the year. We recognise that geography has connections to many other curriculum areas, such as History and Science. Our aim is to link knowledge and skills together where relevant, and to use and apply literacy and maths skills and knowledge. Within each Key Stage, references will be made to prior and future learning so that children understand the purpose of each activity. Teachers will have a clear understanding of what has been taught in the previous year group and the expectations in the next. Where possible, the children will utilise the local area to meet the desired outcomes. Outcomes may be displayed on corridor displays, topic boards, on class walls or table-top displays. Within the children’s books, there will be evidence of supporting children with SEND, and providing challenges which deepen children’s learning. There will be a range of carefully planned activities to inspire and challenge children’s interest in the topic.
Impact
The children will develop a secure understanding of the world that we live in and how and why it is diverse and fascinating. Children will be able to speak about places and topics they have covered as a means of demonstrating ‘pupil voice’. This provides evidence of deeper learning as they share knowledge that can extend far beyond the page. The outcomes in children’ books will provide evidence of a broad and balanced geography curriculum and demonstrate the children’s acquisition of identified key knowledge. In this way the majority of children will achieve the outcomes identified in the geography curriculum map and children will be able to show that they are progressing on a learning journey throughout their time at the school.