Geography
Intent: Our Subject Vision
Through our Geography curriculum we want our children to be given learning opportunities which inspire curiosity and fascination in pupils to explore and understand the world in which we live. At Roberttown we want children to enjoy and love learning about geography both in and out of the classroom. We want them to have first hand, hands-on experiences of being geographers by connecting with places, communities, or environments, particularly within the local area. The children should develop geographical skills such as measuring and interpreting, use fluent specialist knowledge and able to organise their learning through metacognition throughout their time at Roberttown to assist them in being geographers.
Teaching at Roberttown equips pupils with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources, and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes. As pupils progress, their growing knowledge about the world should help them to deepen their understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes, and of the formation and use of landscapes and environments.
Implementation: Our Approach
In Early Years, the most relevant statements for Geography are taken from the Mathematics and Understanding the World areas of learning. This is taught through a cross-curricular approach. Our pupils in EYFS will begin to develop their geographical knowledge by exploring features of our school. Children have rich opportunities to make use of school grounds to enhance and apply their skills as geographers. In Key Stage One, we have a two-year cycle in the way we run projects. Geography is taught as a discrete subject and, where appropriate, linked to projects such as ‘Plastic Ocean’ and ‘Wonderful Weather.’ In Key Stage Two Geography is taught as a discrete subject, and not combined into a ‘project.’ We use a wide range of content and teaching methods to enable children to communicate geographical information in diverse ways. Within school, Geography is taught in a varied approach such as teaching the subject in ‘chunks’ and weekly timetabled lesson to enable pupils and teachers to immerse themselves fully into the subject. During the year, Geography and History alternate, whereby Geography is taught every other half term. Each year children learn about the local area and its features, and as with the rest of the geography curriculum, children’s knowledge and understanding of local geography builds from year to year.
We are committed to providing children with opportunities to investigate and make enquiries about our local area, as well as places within the UK (United Kingdom), Europe and other continents. We deliver a broad and balanced curriculum by delivering the four Geography strands in the National Curriculum;
- Locational knowledge
- Place knowledge
- Human and Physical Geography
- Skills and Fieldwork
A priority within our Geography curriculum is to provide children the opportunity to develop their understanding of our world, primarily through experience, investigation and learning from Primary and Secondary sources. Within an ever-developing world children need to know how the world is changing over time, communicate geographical information in a variety of ways, including through maps, numerical and quantitative skills and writing at length. We use Digimaps and Oddizzi to enable pupils to understand and investigate their world while gaining crucial digital and data skills.
