Intent

To provoke and provide answers to questions about the natural and human aspects of the world.

At Dagnall Church of England School, we want to deliver a high-quality geography curriculum which inspires children’s curiosity and fascination about the world and its people.

We provide a geography curriculum with appropriate subject knowledge, skills and understanding as set out in the National Curriculum Geography Programmes of study.

We seek to deepen children’s understanding of the world by encouraging them to ask and answer questions about the world and provide them with the skills needed to become independent and competent geographers.

Children will investigate a range of places both in the UK and the wider world to develop their knowledge of the Earth’s human and physical geography. They will have the opportunity to collect and analyse data, interpret sources of geographical information from maps, globes and digital
mapping and to communicate geographical knowledge in a variety of ways.

In order to apply new skills and deepen understanding in a practical context, children will engage in practical activities beyond the classroom on visits and field trips.

Our aim is to ignite a passion for learning about the world they live in, both locally and worldwide and to understand the impact that humans have on the world.

Implementaion

As a school, we maintain strong links to the National Curriculum guidelines to ensure all aspects, knowledge and skills of history are being taught across all year groups.

Teachers are encouraged to consider opportunities available to use the school grounds and the local area for fieldwork and to support their understanding and skills through children being outside and enjoying the geography around them.

Educational visits are encouraged to enable children to gain real-life experiences and apply skills practically. Where appropriate, we make cross-curricular links so that learning is repeated in several contexts and children are given opportunities to recall knowledge and skills, strengthening their long-term memory.

In order to plan for repetition and building of prior knowledge, teachers are expected to know what has been taught previously as well as having a secure understanding of what needs to be taught.

We will use assessment for learning to ensure all lessons are relevant and will help to plan for next steps. Foundation subjects are assessed at the end of each unit and analysis of this assessment is then used to make sure all children are continuing to make progress throughout our curriculum.

We move from the Early Years where we develop the vocabulary of positional language and understanding routes around the school and village to KS1 where we review the geography of our immediate area in order to then move away from their immediate vicinity, linking back to know facts of the local area, before finding our place within the United Kingdom and then developing our knowledge of the continents and oceans of the world and looking at where we are in relation to a non- European country.

In Lower KS2 we begin again with studying local geography, understanding more of where they live in order for children to identify the differences, similarities and contrasting human and physical geography of a country within Europe.  This knowledge provides a centre for new learning in Upper KS2 where learners move on to understanding more about physical and human geography of countries and  biomes around the world.

From January 2024 we are introducing the use of the Kapow Scheme of Work for Geography to support the planning of geography. This will enable teachers deliver a clear progression of skills and knowledge within the four strands of the National curriculum: locational knowledge,  place knowledge, human and physical geography and geographical skills and fieldwork. Informed by the progression of skills and knowledge, teachers will build engaging and meaningful lessons that make clear links to prior learning so that knowledge builds upon understanding.

Impact

Through pupil voice and book studies children will be able to talk about the skills and knowledge they have acquired.

Children will develop the geographical knowledge and skills to enable them to explore, navigate and understand the changing world around them, their place within it and the responsibility we all have to ensure that we look after our environment.

Work will show that a range of topics are being covered, cross curricular links are made where appropriate and teachers provide the appropriate scaffolds to support all learners in accessing the subject.

Assessments and monitoring will show that the vast majority of learners are making progress through our curriculum at the expected rate.