Intent
The Geography curriculum at Winterbourne Nursery and Infants School aims to foster children’s curiosity about the world around them, so that they can think and question like a geographer, allowing them to make sense of the real world, and at the same time be able to make links between place, space and scale and how these interrelationships can change over time.
Children will be encouraged:
- To develop their understanding and knowledge of the physical and human processes that impact upon their environment.
- To increase their knowledge of other cultures and, in so doing, understand what it means to be a positive citizen in a multi-cultural country including holding British values.
- To know and understand environmental problems at a local, regional and global level allowing them to develop an informed concern about the quality of the environment and the future of the human habitat. Thereby, to develop sense of responsibility for the care of the earth and its people.
- To develop the disciplinary skills of Geography, including those of enquiry, problem solving, ICT and investigation, how to use, draw and interpret maps.
- To develop a sense of wonder at the beauty of the world around them.
We want our Geography lessons to support all children. Key Geographical knowledge and skills are sequenced to gradually build up on children’s prior knowledge so that all pupils can get an early sense of success. The most fundamental concepts are broken down into smaller chunks for SEND children.
Implementation
The Geography curriculum at Winterbourne Nursery and Infants School is taught in blocks throughout the year, so that children can achieve depth in their learning.
The Geography curriculum identified the key knowledge and skills of each area of geography and sequenced them in a logical order to ensure children can build on their prior learning.
In EYFS, Geography is taught across the seven areas of learning of the EYFS framework to achieve Early Learning Goals at the end of the Foundation Stage. The most relevant Early Learning Goals for Geography are found in the Understanding the World learning area. The children learn to observe patterns, changes, similarities and differences in their immediate environment, eg. home, classroom, playground, neighbourhood.
In KS1, the children start to learn about their locality around Thornton Heath and Croydon. This moves onto learning about the UK and the wider world, drawing comparisons between them. By the end of year 2, children will have geographical understanding of locational knowledge and place understanding, fieldwork, human and physical features, enquiry skills and globes, maps and plans.
The Geography curriculum identifies key words that the children need to learn to develop their language. The key Geographical vocabulary is taught explicitly and present throughout all teaching of geography.
Geography topics are introduced to the children through ‘Wow days’ at the beginning of the term. These days include dressing up as characters relevant to the topic, and being immersed in the learning through practical activities. This motivates and inspires the children and develops their interest. Children’s existing knowledge is checked as part of KWL activity (What I know, what I would like to know, what I have learned). This feeds into teaching as children’s starting point. Children are further encouraged to understand what Geography means through display boards, working walls with learning questions and maps on the wall which they can refer to.
The Geography provision is also well resourced to support effective teaching and learning. The local area is fully utilised to achieve the desired outcomes, with extensive opportunities for learning outside the classroom embedded in practice.
Impact
As children progress throughout the school, they develop a deep knowledge, an appreciation of their local area and its place within the wider geographical context. They also develop awareness of their identity as a member of the diverse school community.
Children’s achievement in Geography is assessed through:
- Summative assessment based on pupil discussion about their learning/termly data input
- Book scrutiny
- Learning walks and professional dialogue with teachers.
- Discussions with pupils about their learning (pupil voice)
- Discussion with teachers over half termly overview meetings