Achieve Well, Aim High, Have Fun

Geography

Intent

Throughout the school, the Geography curriculum places emphasis on our place in the local community and the immediate environment. It is our intent that children will be able to identify and celebrate features in the locality and recognise the importance of Derby within the wider world. The school grounds, the local area and educational visits are used to provide the children with first-hand experience of the wider world around them. Learning to learn adventures encourage the children to learn about geography in a fun and hands-on way. Geography is regularly linked with other curriculum areas e.g. Religious Trail, annual trip to Skegness, ICT using digimaps. We will challenge children to deepen their knowledge of this wider world by helping them to understand different environments, climates and populations and their global location. We will help children build upon previous geographical skills, knowledge and understanding of the world to ensure that children leave the school with a range of geographical skills.. We aim that children will leave Shelton Infant School as curious young geographers with an interest and inquisitiveness about the world around them.

Our Geography curriculum is broad and ambitious with a wide breadth of knowledge and skills taught from the beginning of Nursery to the end of Year Two. It meets the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage and also the requirements of the National Curriculum for Geography at Key Stage One which covers all four areas of geographical skills and fieldwork, locational knowledge, human and physical geography and place knowledge.

Implementation

Our whole school progression document and half termly knowledge and skills organisers for Geography have been created by teachers working together.

Our curriculum documents have been reviewed and validated by the Geographical Association who have also provided advice and guidance.

These documents are used to ensure that the knowledge and skills that teachers want the children to know, remember and use are clearly identified and carefully sequenced from Nursery to Year 2. This also ensures continuity and progression of teaching and learning.

EYFS

Children in the Early Years learn about Geography as an integral part of their daily lives throughout Nursery and Reception. They learn about being part of a group/community e.g. nursery, school, the area of Shelton Lock. They know where to find resources in class, areas of the school e.g. office, kitchen, other classrooms, the outdoor area including forest school area. They have access to continuous provision areas - small world, construction, exploration, sand and water, which are regularly enhanced with resources to support development of geographical skills, knowledge and understanding. A variety of resources are used including stories, maps, globes and ICT. Children are encouraged to share their own and family experiences of places far and near. This provides opportunities to look at how places and environments are similar or how they differ from one another.

Key Stage One

In Key Stage One children build on their prior learning and broaden their understanding about the wider world. They ask questions and complete field work to find answers to their own questions. Children will study the local area and London in Year 1, and in Year 2 children will become aware of a world perspective and identify and name continents, poles and oceans. Year 2 children will complete a study of China. Geography learning is linked to other areas of the curriculum such as using Digimaps to plot and plan routes in the local area.

Throughout their time in school, all children will take part in trips to places of interest.

Impact

Children make good progress over time relative to their starting points. Throughout their time at our school pupils know and remember more in Geography. Teachers regularly assess children’s knowledge and skills using ongoing formative assessment and complete summative assessments at three points during the year.

The subject leader evaluates the impact of the curriculum through lesson observations, professional dialogue with colleagues, and pupil voice which includes scrutiny of children’ work, discussions with pupils and their enjoyment of Geography.

Our children say:-

I love learning about the world.
London is bigger than Derby – London is the capital city.
I liked learning about China – the Great Wall in China is the longest human feature on the Earth.
I liked it when we took a map and followed it all around Shelton Lock.
Did you know the Equator is an invisible line around the Earth and you get warmer when you get near to the Equator.
We made maps of Shell Bay – I drew a volcano on my map.