Geography

STATEMENT OF INTENT

At Sylvester Primary Academy, the intent of our Geography curriculum is to provide rich learning experiences that ultimately inspire a deep curiosity in our children about the world that they live in and their place in it. At the same time, we aim to develop a rich geographical vocabulary that will allow them to make links with their immediate and wider world.

As Geography is largely an investigative subject, we aim to both provoke and inspire answers to questions about the natural and human environments across the globe. It is our intention to equip children with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources and a deep understanding of key human and physical processes, within and beyond their own context. As they continue on their journey of Geography, we aim to foster a deep understanding of the subject that develops alongside their geographical skills.

Our curriculum is designed to provide children with a progressive knowledge and skill base that is transferable across other areas of the curriculum. Ideally, our children will develop a confidence in their Geographical knowledge, skills and understanding that will help them to interpret and explain how the Earth’s features, at different scales, are shaped, interconnected and change over time.

HOW WE TEACH GEOGRAPHY

At Sylvester Primary Academy, Geography is taught as a stand alone subject on a weekly basis across both Key Stage one and Key Stage 2. In EYFS, the children’s geographical understanding is developed through the ‘Knowledge and Understanding of the World’ element of their Early Learning Goals; this is ongoing throughout the year.

By design, our Geography curriculum has been tailored to meet the requirements of the National Curriculum whilst being bespoke to the context of our school. Our curriculum allows children to develop their: locational knowledge; place knowledge; knowledge of human and physical geography; geographical and fieldwork skills and mapping skills through a wide range of learning experiences.

In each year group, our learning sequences are designed to be progressive and geographical content is taught through three topics across the year, which allow children to develop, practise and apply their knowledge and understanding. We ensure that, throughout each topic, geography specific vocabulary is taught and rehearsed and that children become familiar with key terminology and concepts which run throughout the whole school geography curriculum. Teachers use a range of written and pictorial sources; practical resources; digital resources; geographical texts and fieldwork experiences to help learning to become embedded. We also use geography- based texts to support and enhance the children’s understanding and interest of their different topics.

CURRICULUM OVERVIEW

Please view our long-term whole school overviews for Geography.

SEND ADAPTATIONS

At Sylvester, our Geography curriculum provides all of our children with the opportunity to build their knowledge and understanding of the world around them through lessons that are fully inclusive and meet the specific needs of children with SEND. As a whole, our curriculum is designed to cater to children’s differing learning styles and needs, and where appropriate, teachers will adapt and amend their lessons to support more specific requirements.

When sharing texts and sources, key information and vocabulary is highlighted, displayed and revisited throughout sessions. Children are also offered a variety of options for recording their work so that they can confidently demonstrate their understanding. Throughout topics, teachers use pre-learning checks and revisit key learning to help ensure needs are being met and displays are used to provide visual clues and definitions for the children’s reference. Children also regularly use practical resources and engage in practical, fieldwork-based activities as a means of enhancing understanding. During these instances, teachers are careful to consider specific learning needs such as sensory requirements and preferences.

CURRICULUM ENRICHMENT

Pupils at Sylvester are given the opportunity to further the geographical understanding through a range of enrichment opportunities. This includes:

• Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 Geography club

• The recent addition of our school orienteering course which is used to enhance map reading skills

• Whole school Geography Day

• Geography-based field trips