Geography

The Geography Team and the Year 6 Geography Ambassadors

The Geography team consists of Mr Higgins and Mrs Basar.

The Geography Subject Ambassadors are Freddie and Ben.

The Geography Ambassadors support the Geography Subject Leaders to promote and monitor their subject. They are involved with gathering pupil voice, looking at children’s books and sharing their love of Geography. They are very passionate and enthusiastic!

Intent

At Horbury Primary Academy, we aim to provide a broad and rich Geography curriculum that allows all children to develop a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people. To achieve this, we will provide pupils with diverse and differentiated learning opportunities, both through class based lessons and additional learning opportunities, in order to inspire our pupil’s desire to become passionate about the world around them. As a result of this, we will provide a progressive curriculum which enables the children to build upon and extend their geographical skills and knowledge.

As part of our curriculum, we will aim to equip children with knowledge of diverse places (such as Kenya in Year 2, The Amazon Rainforest in Year 5), including the climate and environment, people, resources and the difference between physical and human geography. Through teaching purposeful topics linked to these, we will enable our children to develop an understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes whilst also deepening our pupils ability to recognise the interaction between physical and human processes and how the world around is continuously changing and adapting, with reference to climate change and global warming.

When children leave Horbury Primary Academy, we aim for our children to have developed:

• An enthused attitude for the subject and a curiosity about the world around them
• An excellent knowledge of where places are and what they are like in Britain and the wider world
• An ability to use a range of different maps and mapping skills
• An ability to apply a range of geographical skills when conducting investigations and fieldwork
• A secure understanding of geographical terms and vocabulary
• A secure knowledge of their locality and the ability to make comparisons with contrasting locations around the world
• A desire to extend their own learning with effective questioning and independent projects

Implementation

In order to succeed in the delivery of an enthralling and engaging Geography curriculum, we will implement a thorough and consistent approach across school that has been carefully planned with consideration of the National Curriculum, the differing needs of our pupils and the school’s locality. Our curriculum will allow our children to develop key skills and knowledge (sticky knowledge), which they will then be able to apply to meaningful learning projects and investigations. Enquiry questions will be used where these are appropriate in order to challenge and extend the pupils understanding. These steps will enable the children to achieve the desired outcomes outlined within the National Curriculum at the end of each key stage.

Class teachers will be expected to:

• have a clear understanding of the key assessment criteria and sticky knowledge that the children will retain linked to each geographical learning context
• support the needs of all learners through differentiation, scaffolding resources and alternate ways of recording work
• carefully plan a cycle of lessons that build upon previous skills and knowledge and facilitate for progression within the subject
• provide children with the opportunity to examine, interpret and evaluate a range of sources of geographical importance
• extend learning opportunities through purposeful school trips, workshops and visitors
• Implement knowledge mats to reinforce key geographical vocabulary and sticky knowledge facts
• build a secure understanding of geographical terms and vocabulary
• develop links between Geography and the local community
• support and promote British values, political awareness and current issues linked to Geography around the world
• give children opportunities to collect, analyse and communicate a range of data gathered through fieldwork
• provide opportunities for low stakes quizzes in order to reinforce sticky knowledge
• develop cross curricular links with subjects such as science and maths
• provide differentiated learning opportunities that extend all pupils understand of Geography and provide sufficient challenge
• promote Geography through meaningful working walls within the classroom and around school

Impact

The children at Horbury Primary Academy will be curious about the world around them and be able to apply the skills, knowledge and understanding that they have acquired throughout their learning journey in order to become competent geographers and be able to answer enquiry questions. Children will be aware of the diverse world that they live in and the many challenges that it faces whilst also being able to express their own thoughts and feelings about geographical topics. Through the planned units of work, children will be familiar with their locality and be able to compare this with other places learnt (such as The Amazon, The Alps). As a result of this, our children will be able to demonstrate their progression by producing work that is documented within their humanities curriculum book and through oral discussions.

When leaving Horbury Primary Academy, children will have:

• high levels of engagement and enjoyment when learning about Geography
• know more, remember more and understand more about geographical sticky knowledge and be able to apply a range of geographical vocabulary
• understand how and when to apply geographical skills
• have a developed knowledge and understanding of the world around them and how it changes
• all pupils accessing the curriculum and making progress
• evidence of their progression against Key Assessment Criteria showing that they are working at the age related expectations
• be inquisitive and motivated to undertake and explore the world in which they live