Intent
A high-quality geography education should inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. Teaching should equip pupils with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes. As pupils progress, their growing knowledge about the world should help them to deepen their understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes, and of the formation and use of landscapes and environments. Geographical knowledge, understanding and skills provide the frameworks and approaches that explain how the Earth’s features at different scales are shaped, interconnected and change over time.
Implementation
All projects are planned using an investigative approach so that geographical questions can be raised. In addition to this, skills and mapping progression matrices are used as a basis for planning so that pupils can gain age appropriate skills to meet as follows:-
Mapping skills:
- Position and orientation
- Map Symbols
- Map Perspective
- Map purpose / style
- Map Scale
- Map drawing
- Map Reading and Interpretation
- Data Collection
Children participate in field trips to study their projects through first-hand, multi-sensory experiences. When engaged in fieldwork children are expected to behave in a considerate, responsible manner showing respect for other people and the environment. Children are given opportunities to use a wide range of maps, including historical and thematic maps at a variety of scales appropriate to the activity being undertaken.
Impact
Our approach to the teaching of geography, ensures that our children are able to meet the aims of the national curriculum for geography, which are as follows:
- develop contextual knowledge of the location of globally significant places – both terrestrial and marine – including their defining physical and human characteristics and how these provide a geographical context for understanding the actions of processes
- understand the processes that give rise to key physical and human geographical features of the world, how these are interdependent and how they bring about spatial variation and change over time
- are competent in the geographical skills needed to:
- collect, analyse and communicate with a range of data gathered through experiences of fieldwork that deepen their understanding of geographical processes
- interpret a range of sources of geographical information, including maps, diagrams, globes, aerial photographs and Geographical Information Systems (GIS)
- communicate geographical information in a variety of ways, including through maps, numerical and quantitative skills and writing at length
