Intent:
At Tower Hill Primary School our core vision is that ALL children will be equipped with the skills, knowledge, understanding and empathy that will lead to them being able to make their own choices in life, successfully. With this at the forefront of our minds and the understanding that the Geography Curriculum should inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people, we aim to deliver the Geographical subject knowledge and skills through engaging, exciting and relevant opportunities. Our curriculum focuses on the key skills of locational and place knowledge and human and physical geography underpinned by geographical skills and fieldwork. Through careful planning, we ensure that the three areas of Knowledge, Understanding and Geographical Enquiry are balanced to allow children to progress in order to gain a sound comprehension of the subject. We strive for all children to be actively engaged in their own learning, to be motivated and eager, to achieve and attain to their own full potential within this subject.
Implementation:
Tower Hill’s Geography Curriculum incorporates fundamental geographical knowledge and skills, allowing pupils to build on these from year to year from YR to KSI and through to KSII. Through the implementation of our Geography Curriculum, learning should be consolidated and built upon each year, ensuring that the children leave each phase of their learning with the relevant skills and knowledge.
Early Years Foundation Stage:
The Early Learning Goal for ‘The World,’ States: Children know about similarities and differences in relation to places, objects, materials and living things. They talk about the features of their own immediate environment and how environments might vary from one another. They make observations of animals and plants and explain why some things occur, and talk about changes. At Tower Hill, the children begin to learn some key geographical skills in EYFS through ‘The World.’ They are encouraged, through exploratory play to observe the immediate world around them, noticing and discussing changes. Through our topics on ‘Autumn’,’Winter,’ and ’Spring,’ the children start to explore changes in weather and their environment. Using children’s natural curiosity we start to explore the wider world and beyond through our topics ‘Space,’ ‘Snowy lands,’ and ‘Under the Sea.’ Children are encouraged to ask questions and extend their vocabulary.
Key Stage I:
The National Curriculum states that in KSI: Pupils should develop knowledge about the world, the United Kingdom and their locality. They should understand basic subject-specific vocabulary relating to human and physical geography and begin to use geographical skills, including firsthand observation, to enhance their locational awareness.
Through the ‘Street Detectives’ study in Y1, children are introduced to key geographical vocabulary and develop an understanding of the immediate world around them. As these children move through the year, this locational knowledge is extended as they begin to look at the United Kingdom through ’Where in the UK?’ with a focus on identifying the countries within the UK, before widening their understanding and map work skills further in Year 2 when studying the ‘Wonders of the World.’ The children in Year 1 also develop their understanding of Human and Physical Geography through their study of ‘World Weather’ which is extended further in Year 2 through the study of ‘Explorers and Habitats’ and ‘Seaside Features and Coastlines.’ Within these studies, children in KSI, begin to learn about seasonal, weather patterns and begin to make comparisons between different places both within the UK and across the world.
We strongly believe that the children learn best when they are actively involved and with this in mind, all year groups participate in fieldwork starting with exploring the school grounds and their immediate locality in Year 1, with the children in Year 2 visiting the seaside and undertaking simple fieldwork tasks and observations.
Key Stage II:
The National Curriculum states that in KSII: Pupils should extend their knowledge and understanding beyond the local area to include the United Kingdom, Europe and North and South America. This will include the location and characteristics of a range of the world’s most significant human and physical features. They should develop their use of geographical knowledge, understanding and skills to enhance their locational and place knowledge.
In the Autumn Term of Year 3, through the study of ‘Rivers’ the children explore the physical characteristics of rivers. The children expand their study of rivers to include the role of mountains and the water cycle. Year 3 will also be exploring a local river and will collect primary data and draw sketches to be able to present the human and physical features present around us. Through the ‘Shake Rattle and Roll’ study in Year 3 the children begin to explore Physical Geography and work towards describing and understanding the key aspects of volcanoes and earthquakes. By understanding tectonic plates, children will be able to understand that the distribution of earthquakes and volcanoes follows a pattern. To introduce the foundation geographical skills required, Year 3 will study ‘Geographical Skills and Mapping’ and experience practical map making.
In Year 4, the children will study ‘The World’, looking at the features present that influence climate including the significance of the equator and tropic of Cancer and Capricorn. Children will explore different biomes and the similarities and differences between them. The children will then expand their place knowledge by looking at ‘Europe’ and comparing Venice to our locality (Farnborough). The children should understand the geographical similarities and differences through the study of Physical and Human Geography of these places. I the Summer Term, the children will take learn about fair trade through the unit 'From Bean to Bar.'
Year 5 children will complete a ‘European Country Study.' Human Geography is explored by looking at different types of settlement, how they have occurred and how tourism affects the area. Then, comparing these physical and human features, Year 5 children look at a specific region of the UK in ‘Jurassic Jaunt’. This unit will focus on key topographical features including hills and coasts and understanding how these have changed over time. The children will explore how the physical and human features are similar and different to our own locality. The children will consolidate this knowledge by visiting a beach and observing the key physical features surrounding them.
In Year 6 the children will study an area within ‘South America’ and look at the similarities and differences of the human and physical features compared to our local area. The children will explore the natural resources present and how these are distributed across the world exploring trade links with other places. The children will also study ‘Geographical Skills and Mapping’ which will expand further on the Year 3 topic by the children exploring the practical uses of maps, grid references and compass points.
Geography opportunities continue throughout KS2 with Year 3 exploring the school grounds and applying their knowledge of earthquakes and volcanoes to produce a 5-point action plan for these natural disasters. In Year 4, children will draw sketch maps of Venice in Europe and label the physical and human features. Using their knowledge of European habitats compared to the UK, the children will examine different photographs and decide whether the photographs are of Venice or the UK. Year 5 fieldwork includes a fieldwork-based trip to Charmouth exploring the physical features and in Year 6 the children use sources of information including photos to be able to make comparisons to the UK.
Impact:
In Geography, we assess the impact of the curriculum on our learners in a number of ways. Firstly, we strive to ensure that our children’s attainment in this subject is in line with, or Exceeding, Age Related Expectations. Our children should be ready for the next phase of their learning, ready to build on their Geographical Skills and Knowledge. We also assess the impact of our teaching through the children’s ability to approach new learning and apply skills and knowledge to new situations. We encourage and promote independence and resilience in order that children can take control of their learning. Throughout Geography lessons, retrieval practice is carefully planned into all lessons to further embed learning and understanding of all units.
