Scarcliffe Primary School

Our Geography Curriculum

What is Geography?

Geography is about gaining an understanding of the world we live in – in terms of both physical and human features and how these affect each other.

Who leads Geography at Scarcliffe and what is their vision?

The geography leader at our school is Hannah Brocklesby - who is also a teacher in Class 3. For further information about the geography curriculum, or for other support, she can be contacted via email. hannahbrocklesby@scarcliffe.derbyshire.sch.uk

The subject leader's vision for geography is to ensure that all children leave Scarcliffe Primary School with a curiosity about the world and the people in it; a good understanding of the impact of human life on the world and how we can look after it; and the geographical enquiry skills needed to foster a curiosity about other aspects of the world. The subject leader also wants to ensure that children leave Scarcliffe Primary School with the ability use and interpret maps, being able to recognise some famous global landmarks and with a sound and broad geographical knowledge of the world – including naming, oceans, continents, countries, mountains and rivers.

Geography Curriculum Intent

At Scarcliffe Primary School, we have 4 main intents we hope to deliver through our geography curriculum:

To have the knowledge and skills to be able to carry out geographical enquiries about a particular area.
To have a sound and broad geographical knowledge of the world – including naming, oceans, continents, countries, mountains and rivers.
To understand the physical features of the planet and how varied these can be. To understand how humans and other animals adapt to different physical features.
To understand what physical features are and how areas might be improved. They can explain how humans contribute to environmental issues.

In order to achieve this, we have developed out intent using the following four headings:

Geographical enquiry
Physical geography
Human Geography
Geographical knowledge

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How Geography is implemented at Scarcliffe (including use of schemes)

At Scarcliffe, the geography intent document, developed from the National Curriculum, informs long term planning in each class. The themes taught in each class have been well thought out to cover all objectives in the National Curriculum as well as the following historical core concepts:

Settlements
Economy and trade
Exploration
Cartography
Culture and community
Climate

In every unit, children are given a knowledge organiser detailing the core knowledge and vocabulary to be learned in that unit, and a learning journey which documents the learning challenges taught over time.

Every unit starts with a pre learning task and ends with a post learning task which helps children and staff to understand what they already know and what they need to learn.

Planning takes into account the needs for children to develop geographical enquiry skills and knowledge acquisition.

The format of a geography lesson

All lessons start with a, 'Can I still?' activity to recap prior learning.
Children are then asked, 'What is geography?'
Staff then refer back to the previous lesson, linking to the current lesson.
Staff provide a clear learning challenge which is linked to the intent and learning journey and this is discussed so that children understand what they will be learning and why.
Staff refer back to the knowledge organisers regularly.
Pupils are given lots of opportunities to talk about their learning and explain their ideas in lessons.
Children have an opportunity to cement their learning through various mediums e.g. writing, drawing diagrams, using computing, presenting information orally and more.

Our Curriculum Overview for Geography

In Scarcliffe Primary School, history and geography are taught over a 2 yearly cycle. Please see below for our topic titles and related core concepts.

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Links to our core abilities

We have identified seven core abilities that we hope to develop through our curriculum offer.

Questioning and curiosity
Critical thinking and open-mindedness
Perseverance and resilience
Communication
Independence
Team work
Creativity

We can develop many of these core abilities through effective geography teaching, but we particularly focus on developing the following core abilities

Knowledge Organisers and Learning Journeys

Here are some example knowledge organisers that you might expect to see in a topic book in Scarcliffe Primary School.

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Vocabulary Progression in Geography

At Scarcliffe Primary School, we have developed a vocabulary progression document outlining key vocabulary taught from Class 1 to Class 4. This includes vocabulary specified in the National Curriculum as well as vocabulary linking to each topic.

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Monitoring the impact of teaching in Geography

We understand the importance of teaching high quality geography lessons to all children and leaders monitor the impact of teaching in a variety of ways.

Most importantly, the subject leader spends time in classes - seeing what the children are learning, talking to pupils about their understanding and views about computing and talking to staff about teaching and learning. The subject leader likes to carry out book looks alongside pupils to gather information about their learning.

A range of further methods are used to gather information about the impact of teaching in geography This is collated and shared with staff.

Useful Weblinks

Here are some great websites to support learning in geography:

Geography at home

Homework for geography is encouraged and celebrated in each class but it is optional. A topic menu is sent home at the start of each term to provide ideas to children to complete at home.

Examples of pupil work