Subject Leader: Mrs Deavin

Subject Role

The National Curriculum (2014) sees Geography as an integral part of children’s awareness of who they are and where they are from, developing an awareness of the world and the vast contrasts that it offers. Good Geography education promotes children’s natural curiosity and their desire to learn more about a range of places, their natural features and how humans adapt and change their surroundings. 

Geography at Caedmon

Geography at Caedmon aims to provide all children with the opportunity to develop their geographical skills and knowledge, through an inspiring and creative curriculum provoking Children’s curiosity about the world in which they live will be nurtured from Early Years, promoting inquisitiveness and investigation. 

Intent

The intent of the Geography strategy adopted at Caedmon is to promote children’s curiosity of the world around them and develop the geographical skills and knowledge they need to explore the subject. 

The concepts, skills and knowledge set out in the National Curriculum will then be developed progressively as pupils advance through school, deepening their local knowledge and building their geographical understanding of the UK, Europe and beyond. Using practical skills and fieldwork, we aim to inspire children to explore their immediate environment and the wider world, stimulating an enquiry-led approach. Through practical activities and real-life experiences, children will develop an enthusiasm for the subject and an awareness of the important role that geographical skills and knowledge play in our modern world. 

Children will be well equipped to use a wide range of resources such as maps, aerial photographs and digital mapping to develop their practical skills. Supported by fieldwork, relevant educational visits and workshops, children will be able to identify countries and continents, and the world’s oceans. Developing children’s understanding of modern-day environmental issues will inspire them to consider the difference they can make to the world around them. We will develop children’s enthusiasm for Geography and provide them with the knowledge and understanding they need to make links between the subject and their daily lives. Children tell us that they enjoy learning about new places in their geography lessons and exploring how children’s lives are different around the world. They show a keen interest in environmental issues and are interested in how they can make a difference. 

Implementation

Our curriculum is tailored to our children and aims to take them on a journey through their Geography learning, beginning with their awareness of their local area, gradually expanding upon this to build their knowledge of the world.

Geography at Caedmon is taught in half term blocks, alternating with History. Each unit focuses on a specific location with an enquiry title to allow children to explore the place and its features. The curriculum has been designed to allow children to revisit both skills and knowledge in order to build upon what they have learned and approach units of learning with a foundation of knowledge to inspire confidence in their own ability. Locations are revisited as children progress through school, allowing them to broaden their knowledge and geographical skills are developed progressively each year. During the Autumn term children can make links between their Geography and History units to provide them with a broader understanding of their area and how it has developed.

Our aim to provide all children with the opportunity to be successful, valuing their strengths and their varied contributions. In our Geography lessons, we strive to ensure that the subject is accessible to all; a range of visual and digital resources are used to support learning in the classroom and fieldwork is carried out where possible to provide children with an opportunity to put their geographical skills into practice and demonstrate their abilities. Children’s learning is assessed through their observations and verbal contributions as well as in their written work.

Impact

Our new curriculum has given children a context to their Geography learning. The focus on their own local area in the Autumn term has engaged children and they have approached their learning with enthusiasm and confidence. As they begin to broaden their knowledge of the world in upcoming units, we believe that the spiral curriculum will develop the same confidence and engagement as they revisit locations about which they have previously learned.

The enquiry-based approach is aimed to foster the natural curiosity that our children told us they had about the world which fuels their desire to learn more about the physical features of places they study and to consider what life is like in other parts of the world. We believe that this supports children to consider their own place in the world, how the past has shaped their lives, and to believe that they can make a difference to the world around them.

To provide further context to children’s learning, we are currently setting up links with other schools nationally and internationally – through providing children with real-life links to the locations they learn about, we hope to further developed their engagement in the subject. As we move forward, our Geography student council will continue to be an integral part of our subject development.