GEOGRAPHY

BORROW WOOD PRIMARY SCHOOL

Intent, Implementation and Impact Statement for Geography

Intent

At Borrow Wood, our aim is to ignite pupils’ curiosity and fascination about the world and their immediate environment and develop from that a deepening knowledge about people and places across the world. We want the children to be aware of their sense of place and concepts surrounding geography and how this can affect the world around them. In school, we will, through effective teaching and learning of the knowledge, skills and understanding of geography, help all children develop an understanding of locational knowledge, place knowledge and human and physical geography, and incorporate geographical skills. We aim to provide frequent and repeated opportunities for exploratory and experiential learning and fieldwork as an integral element of purposeful geographical investigations.

Our geography curriculum is shaped by our school ethos, CHOICE (challenge, honesty, ownership, inclusive, care and excellence). We want our students to be challenged to ask thoughtful questions and propose solutions to environmental problems within the local community and the wider world. We want to develop children’s awareness of the impact of humans to encourage pupils to become responsible members of society who reflect and take ownership of their actions/choices. We aim for our students to be respectful and have a good understanding of the different environments and cultures around the world, as well as have a keen interest of diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, to express their opinions and recognise that others may think differently.

Implementation

In the Early Years, staff follow the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Statutory Framework which aims to guide children to make sense of their physical world and their community by allowing them to explore, observe and find out about people, places and the environment. Through child-initiated and adult-led activities, the children will have opportunities to freely explore the EYFS setting and outdoor area, the Nature area in school, to visit other parts of the school and make visits to places in the immediate vicinity of the school. These early experiences will provide opportunities for language development as pupils name and describe what they see in discussion with peers and adults.

In Key stage 1 and 2, the National Curriculum Geography programmes of study are used as the basis for our learning and teaching whilst incorporating our knowledge of the children we teach. It is taught over a rolling two-year cycle, where weekly lessons enable children to build knowledge and skills over time. Geography lessons are planned using a clear progression document. This outlines the core knowledge and key geographical skills that should be taught in each unit, within each year group. This ensures a clear progression of knowledge and skills from one year group to the next. Additionally, each unit of work will include a knowledge organiser containing key information linked to the progression of skills.

In Key Stage 1, the starting point of their Geography journey is the school environment. The children learn about the local area in which we live and we then travel further afield to compare their life in this locality to other regions of the United Kingdom: Scotland, England, Northern Ireland and Wales. The children describe the places and the features they study using simple geographical vocabulary, identifying some similarities and differences in the environment. They identify seasonal and daily weather patterns in the United Kingdom and the location of hot and cold areas of the world in relation to the Equator and the North and South Poles. Throughout the key stage, children will have a variety of fieldwork experiences, which involve the use of simple techniques to record field data to answer geographical questions. When investigating places and environments, the children use sources such as simple maps, atlases, globes, images and aerial photos.

In Key Stage 2, the children develop a framework of world locational knowledge, including places in the local area, The UK and wider world and some globally significant physical and human features. In Upper Key Stage 2 this includes globally significant physical and human features in the news. They will become more adept at comparing places and understanding some reasons for similarities and differences. Additionally, they will develop precise geographical vocabulary. Throughout this Key Stage children continue to have a wide range of fieldwork experiences, including structured enquiries that involve fieldwork techniques to record field data to answer geographical questions. Fieldwork techniques will be progressively more challenging as children move through Key Stage 2. 

Impact

At Borrow Wood, we measure the impact of our geography curriculum through pupil interviews and end of unit summative assessments matching statements taken directly from the progression document. At the end of each unit of work, we identify children who are working at or beyond the age-related expectation, as well as the children who need additional support in that topic. Additionally, children are given the opportunity to complete a mastery task at the end of each unit to share their knowledge and understanding about a topic.

By the time children leave Borrow Wood they will:

• Demonstrate a fascination and show curiosity about their immediate environment and the wider world.
• Have an extensive base of locational knowledge, place knowledge and a good understanding of human and physical geography.
• Have a deepened knowledge about people and places across the world and will use this to understand differences and similarities between communities and environments.
• Communicate thoughtful ideas with confidence and will be critical thinkers, with the ability to reflect and consider multiple viewpoints.
• Have furthered their geographical skills and knowledge about the world through a variety of practical and meaningful experiences.