Intent:
At West Cornforth Primary School, we want our children to love geography. We want them to have no limits to what their ambitions are and grow up wanting to be cartographers, town planners, conservationists or weather forecasters. Our aim is that, through the teaching of geography at West Cornforth, we provide a purposeful platform for exploring, appreciating and understanding the world in which we live and how it has evolved. We ensure that through geography, pupils are able to explore the relationship between the Earth and its people through the study of place, space and environment. In geography, pupils in our school will learn the skills of understanding locational knowledge; how and where people fit into its overall structure. We also intend for children to become passionate and knowledgeable about our local community and beyond, by learning through experiences in practical and fieldwork activities.
Implementation:
- At West Cornforth Primary School, geography is usually taught for half a term, in every term. The subject is explicitly taught in years 1 to 6 and units are blocked to allow children to focus on developing their knowledge and skills, studying each topic in depth.
- Our geography curriculum is designed so that children start with ‘themselves’ and their school or local area before working out to areas or regions of the United Kingdom and the rest of the world. We have developed a progression of skills with each year group, which enables pupils to build on and develop their knowledge and skills each year. Cross-curricular links are planned for, with other subjects such as maths, writing and computing being incorporated within geography lessons and the curriculum.
- Locational knowledge, fieldwork and map work are woven throughout the geography topics. Effective use of educational visits, local fieldwork and visitors are planned, to enrich and enhance the pupils’ learning experiences within the geography curriculum. In-depth fieldwork opportunities are greatly amplified through local area units where children go out into the field to conduct observations, surveys, investigations and field sketches.
- At the start of each unit children will review previous learning and will have the opportunity to share what they already know about a current topic. In order to support children in their ability to know more and remember more, there are regular opportunities to review the learning that has taken place in previous units as well as previous lessons.
- To support teaching, staff access a range of resources and planning including access to Digimaps and the Geographical Association. Effective CPD and standardisation opportunities are available to staff to ensure high levels of confidence and knowledge are maintained. These are done through regular discussions with the geography lead, whole-school moderation, staff meetings, phase meetings and CPD.
- In geography lessons, children are given clear success criteria in order to achieve the learning objective with different elements of independence. Effective modelling by teachers ensures that children are able to achieve their learning intention, with misconceptions addressed within it. Through using a range of assessment tools, differentiation is facilitated by teachers, to ensure that each pupil can access the geography curriculum.
- Teachers use highly effective assessment for learning at different points in each lesson to ensure misconceptions are highlighted and addressed. Pupils are regularly given the opportunity for self-assessment, which will then be used to inform planning, preparation, differentiation and address misconceptions within that lesson, or for the next lesson.
Impact:
The impact of this geography curriculum design will lead to consistent progress over time across key stages relative to a child’s individual starting point and their progression of skills. Children will therefore be expected to leave West Cornforth Primary School reaching at least age-related expectations for geography. Our geography curriculum will also lead pupils to be enthusiastic geography learners, evidenced in a range of ways, including pupil voice questionnaires and work in their books. Upon leaving West Cornforth Primary School to embark on their journey to Key Stage 3 learning, children will be equipped with the skills, knowledge and understanding to confidently continue their geography learning journey.
Subject Area Progression Map
Geography Progression Map at West Cornforth Primary School
Adobe Reader
You may need a product like Adobe Reader (free download) to view our PDF documents on our website.
