Geography
The World is ours to Explore
Intent
At Church Aston Infant School, our Geography curriculum is created to inspire our children to take an active interest in the world around them. We ensure that we provide our children with the skills and knowledge to enable them to understand how the world is made up, the people within it and how we can protect and care for it. We aim to develop our children’s fascination for Geography which will stay in their hearts and minds well into their future lives. We expect our young Geographers to be inquisitive about the world around them. We use well planned and sequenced teaching through a range of topics and contexts to engage our children. We provide opportunities for them to explore their local area and the wider world including the human and physical aspects. We aim for children to become confident at using key geographical language to discuss and explain their knowledge, through discussion, asking questions, investigating, and comparing environments and the communities within them. Our curriculum provides opportunities to revisit and review learning and make links between subjects, ensuring all children can make progress in their learning. We are always aiming for our children to know more and remember more and in so doing build their awareness of our world.
Implementation
Our Geography curriculum builds progressively from the earliest foundations in Reception where children are engaged in Understanding the World which leads into KS1 and the National Curriculum Expectations and outcomes for KS1. Progression in skills and knowledge are outlined in our progression grids which ensure knowledge is developed and extended throughout each year group. Each of our topics focus on key questions and have a variety of contexts to stimulate interest and to ensure breadth of coverage. The school actively plans educational visits that will enhance knowledge and understanding, these include visits within the local community for example to features such as the Mere, St Andrews Church, Chetwynd Deer Park and field work opportunities. As children become familiar with their village, town, country, and the wider UK in general they also become aware of the similarities and differences of their locality with the wider world for example Europe, Antarctica, and Peru.
Our Subject Leader and teachers work closely to ensure that teaching is progressive and provides opportunities for children to work with well-designed sequences of lessons that build knowledge over time. Children are assessed on their geographical knowledge through questioning and discussion to enable teachers to ascertain the next steps for them and to gain an understanding of the progress and expectations that they have met. Our children have opportunity to express what they have been learning about in Geography on a regular basis and this is encouraged throughout the school day for example in assemblies and through reading of quality Geography based texts. Children in Reception are assessed at the end of the year in Knowledge and Understanding of the World to identify if they are at expected or emerging and this is shared with Year 1 teacher/s. Year 1 and Year 2 children are assessed to evaluate if they are working towards or at age related expectations. Outcomes are shared with parents.
Impact
Our Geography curriculum is planned to demonstrate clear progression and children develop the geographical knowledge and skills to enable them to explore and understand the world around them. Lessons are designed to shape inquisitive learners who ask relevant questions and enjoy finding out more about the world they live in and how it may be similar or different to other areas of the world. Our children are ready and able to talk about their knowledge and to express what they know and what they have been learning about. They are building an understanding of why it is important to learn about Geography. This is evident through pupil voice, assemblies, responses to visitors and in the work they produce.