Geography

Subject Leader: Mrs Clarke

Geography at Airedale Junior School allows our children to develop their use of geographical knowledge and understanding, in order to enhance their locational and place knowledge. In our diverse society, children need, more than ever before, to understand their place in the world and how their actions impact the environment.

The Primary Objectives of teaching Geography at Airedale Junior School are:

To enable children to understand their local area and compare their life in this area with that in other regions in the United Kingdom and in the rest of the world
To know how to draw and interpret maps
To develop in children the skills of research, investigation and problem-solving
To develop and apply knowledge and understanding of human geography, in order for children gain an appreciation of life in other cultures
To motivate children to find out about physical geography, recognising the importance of sustainable development for the future of mankind

Geography permeates throughout our curriculum and links closely to our school drivers ‘VOICE’. Our TRUST values of Ambition, Bravery and Respect underpin our school ethos. Through studying specifically chosen significant localities, we provide our children with the understanding of opportunities that are available outside their immediate community, thus raising their aspirations. Through our sustainability strand, children learn to respect the environment whilst studying the threats imposed to our planet. This links to wider issues in the world, such as global warming, therefore instilling an understanding of their carbon footprint on the world. We appreciate that our children are often reluctant to try new experience, which are beyond the realms of their lives, so we encourage them to be brave when investigating their own lines of enquiry and conducting fieldwork beyond their locality.

Oracy and communication are fundamental skills that we believe equip our children to be life-long learners. This is promoted in geography through the use of a variety of technical vocabulary, mapping resources and carefully planned speaking and listening activities in order to develop geographical enquiry and promote inquisitive conversations. The vocabulary in geography is very much dependent on knowledge of specific locations so we have carefully chosen progressive vocabulary which we expect children to know, understand and apply in context.

Being independent and fostering a love for learning is crucial in our school. This is promoted in geography regularly through the use of enquiry-based lessons where we encourage children to have ownership over their mapping and fieldwork findings. Investigative ‘BIG questions’ are used to further develop and deepen children’s knowledge and understanding and give their learning a sense of purpose.

Through studying a range of places both within their locality and the wider world children are taught about diverse cultures and to challenge stereotypes. This increases their cultural capital whilst allowing them to gain a sense of their place in an ever- changing, diverse world.

How do we ensure progression of knowledge and skills?

At Airedale Junior School, we have in place, for each subject area, a knowledge and skills progression document, which is used for planning, to ensure sequenced and appropriate content for specific year groups. Teachers are clear on the learning and expectations for each year group, as this has been carefully selected and mapped out so that children are building on prior knowledge and skills each term and each year. Our children start by learning about their own immediate locality, allowing them to start to learn and use the language associated with geography, as they begin to develop basic fieldwork skills. Children then learn to compare their own locality to places in the United Kingdom, before going on to learn about and make comparisons to places in the wider world. Whenever possible, we teach through a themed approach, to enable our children to embed and revisit learning, make connections and develop a greater depth of understanding within the subject. The content is chosen in order to make effective links with key cross-curricular themes, reflect expectations in the National Curriculum programmes of study and engage and inspire children’s curiosity and interest in geography.

Ultimately, our curriculum is designed to ensure that pupils know more and remember more, through the use of progressive skills. Within these documents there are opportunities for differentiation, in order to meet the needs of all learners.

Geography skills progression document

Geography teaching overview document

How is the subject taught?

When children are in geography lessons, they are explicitly told that they are going to be ‘geographers.’ They are then reminded of the key skills that they will learn, use and develop within this subject, specifically linking to their prior learning.
The knowledge content is carefully selected and skilfully taught alongside the key skills and geographical concepts, which are threaded throughout the geography curriculum. This allows children ample opportunities to revisit, reinforce and embed learning.

Within each unit of study, we pose investigative ‘BIG questions’ in order to engage and motivate them as learners. This enables the children to further develop and deepen their knowledge and understanding whilst driving their own learning forward by questioning, investigating and solving problems.

Within each Geography lesson, children are introduced to and reminded of key vocabulary, in order to promote oracy and language acquisition. Specific questioning is used to check children’s understanding and prior knowledge, before new concepts, skills or knowledge are introduced. Modelling is used by class teachers to clarify expectations, children are then given plentiful opportunities to consolidate, build upon and apply basic skills and knowledge, across a series of lessons, as well as across the year. Class teachers use a range of digital and concrete resources, such as atlases and Digi-maps in order for children to develop and understand place knowledge and mapping skills.

Look at what we have been up to in our lessons!

In accordance with the National Curriculum Key Stage 2 children will be taught to:

locate the world’s countries, using maps to focus on Europe (including the location of Russia) and North and South America, concentrating on their environmental regions, key physical and human characteristics, countries, and major cities
name and locate counties and cities of the United Kingdom, geographical regions and their identifying human and physical characteristics, key topographical features (including hills, mountains, coasts and rivers), and land-use patterns; and understand how some of these aspects have changed over time
identify the position and significance of latitude, longitude, Equator, Northern Hemisphere, Southern Hemisphere, the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, Arctic and Antarctic Circle, the Prime/Greenwich Meridian and time zones (including day and night) Place knowledge
understand geographical similarities and differences through the study of human and physical geography of a region of the United Kingdom, a region in a European country, and a region within North or South America Human and physical geography
describe and understand key aspects of: Physical geography, including: climate zones, biomes and vegetation belts, rivers, mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes, and the water cycle. Human geography, including: types of settlement and land use, economic activity including trade links, and the distribution of natural resources including energy, food, minerals and water Geography – key stages 1 and 2 4 Geographical skills and fieldwork
use maps, atlases, globes and digital/computer mapping to locate countries and describe features studied
use the eight points of a compass, four and six-figure grid references, symbols and key (including the use of Ordnance Survey maps) to build their knowledge of the United Kingdom and the wider world
use fieldwork to observe, measure, record and present the human and physical features in the local area using a range of methods, including sketch maps, plans and graphs, and digital technologies

How do we know that our children are making progress?

Ongoing assessments of the children’s knowledge and skills are made by the class teacher. Misconceptions are addressed and next steps carefully planned. Children’s outcomes are compared to the subject specific skills and knowledge documents. At the end of a block of discrete teaching, our children complete their ‘Big Question’ which is an independent piece designed to showcase and assess their learning throughout a unit.

Subject leaders gather an overview of children’s outcomes in each subject area. This is used to plan appropriate next steps for their future learning, as well as provide an overview of learning within a subject area cross the whole school.

What wider opportunities are provided for our children?

Children have the opportunity to participate in regular visits out to places linking to the geography curriculum. This is so that they can experience first-hand what the environments are like and gain a greater understanding of the human and physical features these places have. Fieldwork is carefully planned so it takes place both locally and further afield, linking with each unit of study.

Geography policy document

Geography: Further Information & Links

Useful Websites & Links to Our Visits