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Intent 

At St Augustine’s, we believe every child is entitled to a high quality geography curriculum which 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. Geography, by nature, is an investigative subject. We intend to provoke thought, and learn through key questions. We will encourage children to discover answers to their own questions through exploration and research to enable them to gain a greater understanding and knowledge of the world and their place in it. Our teaching equips 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. By revisiting these areas of learning regularly children will remember more, make links and be able to transfer skills. 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. We want our children to gain confidence and have practical experiences of geographical knowledge, understanding and skills that explain how the Earth’s features at different scales are shaped, interconnected and change over time. Our children will gain key knowledge and skills, not just through experiences in the classroom, but also with the use of fieldwork and educational visits.

Implementation

Geography lessons are planned coherently, using the skills progressions, to build pupils’ knowledge and understanding of the world and the interaction between physical and human processes through quality first teaching. Children will build geographical expertise from their local area to the wider world including focused locational studies that progress across year groups to build children’s locational knowledge year on year. This also includes place knowledge, understanding of human and physical features and geographical and fieldwork techniques. Opportunities to develop their skills and fieldwork using maps and atlases (both physical and digital) will be provided for all pupils. We will develop deep subject knowledge and key skills while ensuring all work is accessible for all. From EYFS up to the end of KS2, pupils will be taught various geographical terms both in our local area and worldwide. Geography assessment is ongoing and informs teachers with planning lessons; it will be tracked against the Geography progression of skills and knowledge. All lessons are planned using skill and knowledge progressions so that knowledge is taught across the year group; skills are progressed across the key stage with connections made to prior learning.

Our Geography Journey:

In Year 1 the children will start with maps and plans of the classroom and the school then progressing to the local area. They will develop their knowledge of the local area first and carry out fieldwork then progress to knowledge of the United Kingdom through using maps and name the four countries and capital cities. Through a study then of weather patterns the children will be introduced to maps of the world and they will identify hot and cold places on a world map as well as the seven continents and five oceans.

In Year 2, to build on the knowledge they developed in Y1 of the United Kingdom, Y2 will start with a study of another location in the UK that contrasts with the two place studied in Y1 (Coventry and London) and incorporate a study of the seaside town. Children will then compare and contrast their locality with a non-European contrasting locality. They will develop understanding of where in the world the contrasting locality is – identifying the continents of the world and naming the five oceans. They will also develop their knowledge of climate in that part of the world and gain an understanding of how people live there and how their lives might be different to our own.

In Year 3, Children will compare where they live with another region in the UK – The Cotswolds – and identify similarities and differences in the physical and human geography. They will make maps, including use of basic OS symbols, of regions studied using aerial images and other models. They will use four compass directions and key vocabulary to help navigate themselves around different routes. They will use simple fieldwork and observational skills to study the immediate environment. Children will learn to name and locate rivers around the UK before focusing on a river located in the regions studied. Physical geography will also include studying formation of volcanoes and the causes of earthquakes.

In year 4, children will develop their place knowledge through a study of Europe with a focus on one European country – Poland, and make links to history topics (Greece – Ancient Greeks or Italy – The Romans). They will understand the position of the country studied in the world using geographical vocabulary – equator, hemispheres. After revising the position of major rivers in the UK they will explore rivers around the world. Children will then build on this physical geography through the study of mountains in the UK and around the world. They will continue to develop their map and fieldwork skills using atlases to explore countries and they will use the 8 compass points.

In Year 5, children will develop their place knowledge by looking at another continent – Africa, exploring physical and human features and comparing to other places studied in the world. From this their locational knowledge will develop to understand lines of latitude and longitude and time zones. Through exploration of farming in the UK they will use four figure and six figure grid references and a range of OS map symbols. Children will understand the various climate zones around the world and make links to crops farmed in different areas of the world.

In Year 6, children will continue to explore another continent in the world, to develop their place knowledge, through a study of North America. They will develop locational knowledge of the polar circles and the tropics. Mapping and fieldwork skills will make practical links to the Year 6 residential trip to Doly Moch where children will revise the use of 4 and 6 figure grid references and apply them during orienteering work at Doly-Moch.

Impact

At St Augustine’s, the impact of quality first teaching in Geography will foster a love and enthusiasm for the subject. Well-constructed and well-taught lessons provide pupils with opportunities to research and apply skills independently – skills essential for lifelong learning. Assessment will take place through end of unit quizzes and help feed into further lessons to address gaps in learning.  Book looks indicates high expectations and reflect what pupils have learnt to a high standard.  All learning builds towards clearly defined end points that are met. Pupils will leave KS2 with a strong knowledge of their local area and a confidence of the location of other countries and places around the world (Coventry, Africa, Poland, North America). All pupils will be able to discuss and recall a variety of events and where they happened in the world, as well as explain aspects of human and physical geography and confidently use maps and atlases (physical and digital). Knowledge and skills will have developed progressively to not only enable them to meet the requirements of the National Curriculum but to prepare pupils to become competent geographers in secondary education.  We want pupils to have thoroughly enjoyed learning about geography, therefore encouraging them to undertake new life experiences now and in the future.