Geography Curriculum Information

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Introduction

 

The intention of the Geography curriculum at Our Lady’s is that children are given opportunities to develop an interest in Geography through exciting and stimulating experiences. We have tailored our Geography curriculum to ensure that it is fully inclusive to all, and that all children from EYFS to Year 6 are taught skills and knowledge; appropriate for their year group, ensuring the progressive development of geographical concepts; knowledge and skills.

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Within these active lessons, children at Our Lady’s are exposed to new vocabulary and knowledge through skills that build upon what they have previously been taught. These skills give children opportunities to be independent when finding out new, information. This helps children to be confident when applying this knowledge in the wider world. The learning needs of individual pupils are addressed through careful scaffolding, skilful questioning and appropriate intervention, in order to provide the necessary support and challenge.

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We have been able to work with other local schools to provide opportunities for whole schools projects and to develop the Geography curriculum we have in school.

 

 

What pupils say about Geography at Our Lady’s

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• I like Geography because you learn lots about different countries around the world.

• I like it when we have pen pals all over the world and find out about their way of life.

• I like learning about maps and atlases.. Maybe learning different languages.

• Definitely learning about all the different food around the world.

 

Links with Tanzania

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We are lucky that our very own Mr Livesey went to visit a school in Tanzania and create links with them for us to learn more about the differences in our daily lives. He brought back letters from the children there.

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Mr Livsey continues to share his amazing experiences with us about his time in Tanzania. We are extremely lucky to have someone that can share stories and talk about life in another country. We are looking forward to continuing our work alongside some of the amazing people that he met.

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Involvement of Parents:

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Read with children – especially about other places and people.

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Keep maps and globes around the house and let your children see and use them.

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Look around and explore. Go exploring with them and become aware of your surroundings.

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Ask questions about what you see. Ask about shape and colour and why things are located in a particular spot.

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Talk about the weather and how it changes, what you wear and what you can do.

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Experiment with other cultures. Eat their food and sing their songs.

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Talk about where ideas, products and people come from.

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Travel in different ways: Bus, car, bicycle, train. Jumping, running and climbing.

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Assessment

At Our Lady’s Primary School, in line with our curriculum intent, we have developed a foundation subject tracking system.  It will capture our ongoing assessments of each child showing us how well our curriculum is being implemented as well as how our children are progressing through the curriculum and the impact it has on their learning.  It will enable teachers to plan subsequent learning opportunities so that individual needs are met and children can make progress towards the end of year expectations.  Judgements relating to end of year expectations will be made at the end of the academic year.

 

SMSC in Humanities

Humanities subjects are focused on people and their relationships and, therefore, we are well placed to contribute to students’ Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural education. In lessons, children are given the opportunity to either to consider the needs and experiences of others, or their own personal responses to events, problems and changes. Teachers encourage children to discuss and debate controversy within the classroom. We expect the study of Humanities subjects to affect positively the way students live their daily lives. We encourage the children to enquire, consider and question in lessons and beyond.

 

Spiritual

Being inspired and awed by the world around us is a key facet of the study of Geography, and one that is explicitly promoted through the study of ‘We are Britain’ (Year 2), ‘Where in the World?’ (Year 3) and ‘European Countries’ (Year 5)

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Moral - Children are given the opportunity to debate and discuss moral dilemmas in different topics.  In all topics there is a way to challenge children’s thinking about morality and the rights and wrongs of the modern world.

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Social - Social issues and the needs of different groups of people are common themes that are explicitly recognised on a regular basis, such as ‘How has Aspull changed?’ (Year 5)

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Cultural - Cultural appreciation and understanding is fundamental to learning, children are presented with authentic accounts of cultures in topics as diverse as South America, when learning about the Amazon River (Year 3); ‘European Countries: Greece, Athens’ and ‘English Settlements’ (Year 5). The contribution of different cultures to human development and progress is also explored and studied, opening children’s views and broadening horizons.