Geography
Intent
At Ovingham C of E First School, our geography curriculum is designed to develop children’s curiosity and fascination about the world we live in. Children investigate a range of places – both in Britain and across the world – to help develop their locational knowledge and understanding as well as the Earth’s human and physical processes. We are committed to providing our children with opportunities to explore their local area so that they can develop a sense of who they are and their heritage. We believe it is important to provide children with a range of geographical skills and vocabulary so that they can confidently communicate their findings.
Rationale
The purpose of geography in the National Curriculum is to equip pupils with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes. As pupils progress, their growing knowledge about the world should help them to deepen their understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes, and of the formation and use of landscapes and environments. Geographical knowledge, understanding and skills provide the framework and approaches that explain how the Earth’s features at different scales are shaped, interconnected and change over time.
Implementation
Geography is taught through fun and engaging topics linked directly to the National Curriculum. Planning enables pupils to build on their knowledge and skills week by week so that by the end of a topic they have a secure subject knowledge. Geography lessons allow children to develop their knowledge of the world they live in and where possible links are made to foundation subject areas such as art, design and technology, history, music and computing. Pupils are also provided with opportunities to develop their skills in core subjects such as writing information texts about the location of famous rainforests in English, using coordinates and compass points when discussing direction in maths and looking at rocks and soils in science. Geography displays incorporate examples of work and also new words which help develop vocabulary skills and support the development of a language-rich environment.
Impact
Progress in geography is monitored termly to ensure all pupils meet their full potential. Teachers use effective questioning during lessons to check pupils’ understanding of the content and support them to explain how this builds on what they have learnt before.
Geography teaching is detailed in our topic webs.
