Geography

Intent

At Liberty Primary School, we deliver the National Curriculum objectives through topics carefully selected from the Cornerstones scheme, ensuring breadth and balance across all subject areas. Where possible, we use a cross-curricular approach and we choose themed texts to support our learning in each topic. Through this approach we aim for 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. 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. By revisiting these areas of learning regularly children will remember more, know more and understand more. 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.

 

Implementation

In ensuring high standards of teaching and learning in geography, we implement a curriculum through Cornerstones that is progressive throughout the whole school. Geography is mapped out across the curriculum using the Cornerstones topics focusing on knowledge and skills stated in the National Curriculum. At Liberty Primary School, we ensure that geography has the same importance given to it as the core subjects, as we feel this is important in enabling all children to gain ‘real-life’ experiences.

To ensure that all foundation subjects receive dedicated, high quality teaching time, several subjects will now be taught in discrete themed days. Each half term, teachers will plan and deliver a dedicated Geography themed day. This themed day will be given an overarching focus linked to the National Curriculum. It is essential that we are able to demonstrate a progression in the knowledge and skills children develop as they move through the school.

 

Impact

At Liberty Primary School, children have the opportunity to record their learning in different ways. Evidence is dependent on the lesson objective, year groups and key knowledge and skills being developed. Progression of skills maps ensure children develop key geographical skills over time.  Plans have been developed to indicate the key learning, vocabulary and skills required for that particular unit of work. Teachers use a range of assessment tools to indicate the progress children have made and the key knowledge they have gained.

 

The impact of our themed curriculum will ensure that children:

 

• Use appropriate Geographical terms;
• Develop their locational knowledge of places around them and in the wider world;
• Develop Geographical Skills and use fieldwork to observe, measure and record the human and physical features of different areas;
• Describe and make links between situations and changes within and across different periods and societies.