Geography Lead - Miss Starrett

My name is Miss Starrett and I am the Geography subject leader at Hunts Cross Primary School.

Please make use of the various online links that you can access at home.  Here are some more wonderful ways to encourage Geography learning and understanding outside of school:

• Read with the children — especially about other places and other people.
• Keep maps and globes around the house and let your children see you use them.
• Look and explore. Go exploring with them and become aware of your surroundings.
• Ask, ask, ask. Ask questions about what you see. Ask about shape and colour and why things are located in a particular spot.
• Talk about the weather and how it changes what you wear and what you can do.
• Celebrate your own cultural heritage.
• Experiment with other cultures, embracing the diversity of the world. 
• Talk about where ideas, products, and people come from.
• Travel in different ways: Bus, car, bicycle, subway train. Jumping, running, climbing

I have detailed the intentions of Geography at school below, how we implement our intentions and the impacts this will have on our pupils. 

Thank you for visiting the Geography Faculty Page.

Geography Intent

At Hunts Cross we believe that Geography helps to provoke and provide answers to questions about the natural and human aspects of the world. Pupils’ are encouraged to understand their place in the world, developing a greater understanding and knowledge of the world they live in. This forms a key driver in the planning and teaching of our Geography curriculum. The intent of our Geography curriculum is to develop knowledge and skills that are transferable to other curriculum areas. Geography is an investigative subject which develops an understanding of concepts, knowledge and skills. Our aim is to inspire children’s curiosity and fascination about the world and its people which will stay with them for the rest of their lives. We aim to promote the pupils’ interest and understanding of diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes. This gives our pupils’ the vital background knowledge required to be informed and thoughtful members of our community.

Geography, along with History and Science, is one of our key drivers. This is because we believe our children need to develop an understanding about where they live and the wider world. Through learning about the world, we want them to understand their role in society and develop respect towards the environment, communities and religions.

Geography Implementation

Geography is taught through our thematic ‘Learning Challenge Curriculum’.  This approach provides a relevant, engaging and key skills-based curriculum that engages, inspires and challenges all children whilst raising standards in Foundation subjects. The National Curriculum statutory programme of study is mapped across the school, with specific subject-curriculum areas allocated to year group.

Geography is taught in blocks throughout the year so that children can achieve depth in their learning by accessing a learning challenge approach. Each topic begins with a question and every lesson a learning challenge feeds into the bigger question. Each unit is linked clearly to skills and vocabulary to ensure progress across topics throughout each year and across the school. Our curriculum is designed so that in EYFS children’s geography learning is based on the local area around them. As they move up through Key Stage One children focus on the United Kingdom making comparisons to an area outside of Europe (Kenya).

Moving into Key Stage Two, our curriculum allows children to have a more in-depth study of the wider world and the continents that make up our world. At the beginning of each topic, children can convey what they already know as well as what they would like to find out. The 2013 national curriculum is used to inform planning as well as taking into consideration the questions pupils’ have asked at the start of a unit. Outcomes of work are regularly monitored to ensure that they reflect a secure understanding of the key identified skills and knowledge.

Teaching in Geography will involve cooperative group work, individual work and class teaching. The use of ‘wow’ experiences and educational visits all contribute to the teaching of Geography. Within this structure:

• Groups are usually of mixed ability.
• Work is differentiated to meet the needs of those in the class.
• Relevant discussion is encouraged.
• Groups are encouraged to communicate their findings in a variety of ways.
• Fieldwork in the environment is a component of the Geography curriculum.

The emphasis in our teaching of Geography is on integrated learning, linking the subject with all other areas of the curriculum where possible. Our focus is on topic work which develops a range of study skills allowing children to increasingly take control of their own learning. To achieve this:

• Fieldwork, enquiry and investigation are central to geographical education. Every opportunity will be provided for hands on geography in the local area and if possible the contrasting UK locality.
• Information handling skills, including the use of a wide range of source materials are explicitly taught.
• ICT will be used to develop children’s research skills at all stages of development.
• Children will learn to read maps and the skills necessary for interpretation.
• Careful observation is fostered.
• Good quality resources are used to support learning.

 In Key Stage 1, pupils will develop knowledge about the world, the United Kingdom and their locality. They will understand basic subject-specific vocabulary relating to human and physical geography and begin to use geographical skills, including first-hand observation, to enhance their locational awareness. Pupils will develop skills in the following four areas:

• Locational knowledge
• Place knowledge
• Human and physical geography
• Geographical skills and fieldwork

In Key Stage 2, pupils will extend their knowledge and understanding beyond the local area to include the United Kingdom and Europe, North and South America. This will include the location and characteristics of a range of the world’s most significant human and physical features. They will develop their use of geographical knowledge, understanding and skills to enhance their locational and place knowledge. Teaching in Key Stage 2 will further develop skills in the same four areas as Key Stage 1.

Geography Impact

Geography will be fun and it will inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. It will increase their knowledge and understanding of the world and it will be used to promote excellence and enjoyment.

Geography’s fundamental role lies in helping children to understand the world, its environments and places near and far, and the processes that create and affect them. It encourages a holistic appreciation of how the world works and of the interconnections between concepts such as scale, community, cultural diversity, interdependence and sustainability. Geography is a subject that contextualises and extends the possibilities for developing and applying language and mathematics, and enriches understanding of, and in, subjects from science and history to art and design.

The impact and measure of this, is to ensure that children at Hunts Cross Primary 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. We want the children to have thoroughly enjoyed learning about geography, therefore encouraging them to undertake new life experiences now and in the future.

We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:

• Assessing children’s understanding of the topic before and after the unit is taught.
• Summative assessment of pupil discussions about their learning.
• Interviewing the pupils about their learning (pupil's voice) – this will be completed termly.
• Through book monitoring and learning walks – this will be completed termly.
• End of unit assessment tasks.  

Geography lead - Miss Starrett