Curriculum Lead: Sophie Sandhu and Sarah Lloyd

Intent

Our high-quality geography education will inspire a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with the children for the rest of their lives. We want our children to understand the complexity of our world and appreciate the diversity of cultures that exist within it. Teaching will equip children 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. Pupil’s appreciation of both substantive and disciplinary knowledge bind together to build the knowledge and progressive skills required to be a geographer. Children are encouraged to evaluate, explore, hypothesise, answer big questions, express opinions and make decisions. Children’s knowledge of the formation and use of landscapes and environments develops through high-quality teaching of the four key strands of Geography (locational knowledge, place knowledge, human and physical geography and geographical skills and fieldwork).

Implementation

• Taught as part of a half-termly learning theme.
• Objectives planned carefully to ensure progression of skills and knowledge across school. 
• Questioning and regular “low-stakes” quizzes (retrieval practice) used to promote long-term learning.
• Use of Knowledge Organisers to support learning.
• Children taught key geographical vocabulary explicitly.
• Building on children's prior learning.
• Theme days to bring learning to life.
• Trips and local area visits to enrich learning. 
• Encouraging children to ask perceptive questions.
• Revisiting key content and vocabulary in other subject areas.
• Use of maps to enhance learning. 
• In-depth fieldwork undertaken, including progression in data collection. 

Impact

The impact and measure of this is to ensure that children at Coten End are equipped with geographical skills and knowledge that will enable them to be ready for the curriculum at Key Stage 3 and for life as an adult in the wider world. Children should leave us with a growing knowledge about how the world helps them to deepen their understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes. Furthermore, we aim to equip children with skills and values that can be applied more universally. We want the children's enthusiasm for the subject to encourage them to seek further opportunities to develop their skills and understanding in the future. Children leave Coten End with a strong understanding of the world, people and their impact.