Geography

Our curriculum intent for Geography

At Fleet Infant School we feel it is important to nurture and encourage children's natural curiosity, so they become inquisitive, questioning learners who look closely at the world around them and begin to be able to interpret what they see. As a whole school we look at countries around the world and learn about the similarities and differences between British culture and other cultures.

In KS1 we begin to look in more detail at our local area. We learn to draw and interpret maps and develop a variety of other skills through our topic work, including those of enquiry, problem solving, investigating and presenting our work. We may use skills learned in Maths and English and apply them in new ways.

We aim to instil a sense of environmental responsibility in our children and encourage them to understand environmental issues at a local and global level.

Running through all of our Geography work at Fleet Infant School is the idea that we are motivating and inspiring our children to find out about their world, both physical and human, so that they can take an active part in contributing to and protecting this world as they grow up.

Implementation

Geography knowledge, skills and vocabulary begins with exploring the school and it's grounds. By using the immediate environment, skills can be practised within a familiar area and this becomes the foundation for teaching new learning.

From Year R to Year 2, learning builds upon previous experiences using the key skills, knowledge and vocabulary progression document which allows children to develop and reinforce their understanding of the world. This includes being able to name countries, continents and oceans as well as being able to talk about the town that they live in. Comparisons are made between different environments near and far and by using a range of resources such as maps, satellite images, songs and video clips, the children gain further understanding of what these places are like.

Children develop their understanding of fieldwork skills by learning to read a map and use keys to find information and follow routes. Compasses are used to navigate around the familiar environment and our use of the Cross-Curricular Orienteering Programme from the EYFS to Key Stage 1 provides engaging lessons to reinforce and enhance essential geographical skills using a fun, physical approach.

Inclusion

When teaching Geography we ensure that every child is included and taught the curriculum to take into account their individual needs. Adaptations are made to teaching styles and resources to enable all children to access the subject at their individual level with appropriate support and challenge being added where appropriate. We identify barriers to learning and support pupils in many ways for example by pre-teaching subject specific vocabulary, using more detailed visual aids and scaffolding tasks which enables all pupils to succeed in becoming competent and confident geographers at our school.

Impact

One of the ways we can see the impact of our geography curriculum is through the children being engaged and enthusiastic about their learning and subject knowledge. Children are confident to share their work and can recall key factual information, talk about their experiences and what they have learnt.

The impact of teaching and learning in the EYFS is monitored through adult observation and interacting with the adults who make continuous assessments about the children's knowledge and skills to inform the end of year judgement for part of the Early Learning Goal 'Understanding the World'.

At the end of each Geography unit of work in Key Stage 1 children are assessed using the intended outcomes. For those not achieving these outcomes, learning is revisited and reassessed at a later stage.

Other ways of monitoring the impact of teaching across the school include pupil conferencing, monitoring and observation of teaching, book looks and learning walks. Feedback is then provided using staff training sessions where we discuss and identify any further points for development if needed.

Our learning in action!

Year R Learning about the world