Kirkbymoorside Primary School

School Curriculum - Geography

Intent

The aim of our geography curriculum at Kirkbymoorside School is to inspire our children’s interests, curiosity and appreciation of our world and our role in sustaining it. Throughout their learning, our children will develop their geographical skills through a range of practical and engaging lessons, while recognising that geography impacts our daily lives. We promote geographical enquiry and engagement with the local environment through regular fieldwork opportunities that develop an understanding of human impact on the natural and physical world around them. We aim to capture children’s natural curiosity of the world and what they observe, to promote respect for the environment, the people and living things who inhabit it and develop as confident, global citizens.

Geography at Kirkbymoorside School provides opportunities for children to learn and apply their geographical knowledge and skills in other subjects, through the meaningful cohesive and complimentary placement within the wider curriculum. As geographers, children are exposed to a rich and balanced curriculum that provides them with new vocabulary and knowledge. As they progress through school, children will develop an understanding of the links between human and physical geography and how environments and landscapes have changed and continue to change over time.

Implementation

At Kirkbymoorside School, our geography curriculum is planned in line with the skills and knowledge outlined by the National Curriculum and is taught on a two-year cycle (Year A and Year B) and within phases (Y1/2, Y3/4, and Y5/6). Our geography curriculum has been developed in a way that links to our history curriculum. Thereby, there are elements of geography that are woven into our history units. Where appropriate, Geography is also taught as a topic driver, where it is organised into blocks, under a theme and meaningful cross-curricular links have been made to enhance and enrich the topic and teaching of geography, making it more exciting and engaging. We have ensured there is coverage of each strand of substantive knowledge within each year, with disciplinary knowledge intertwined to develop children’s geographical understanding of each strand.

Our children are provided with the opportunity to access a range of resources to develop their learning, through atlases, globes, digital technology, books, photographs and a range of maps, including OS maps. We use every opportunity to take our geography learning outside, so children can use and apply their learned skills to use, follow, draw and design their own maps, using the human and physical features observed. The local area is fully utilised to achieve the desired outcomes for learning and applying skills outside the classroom. School trips and fieldwork are planned to provide first-hand experiences, opportunities to investigate the local area and to collect and analyse data, which enhances children’s understanding of the world.

Impact

By the end of their time at Kirkbymoorside School, we expect our children to:

Have an excellent knowledge of where places they have studied are and what their human and physical features are.

Have highly developed and frequently utilised fieldwork and other geographical skills.
Be motivated and inspired to continue their geography learning into KS3.
Have an understanding of how geography impacts on our daily lives and the impact humans have on the natural and physical world.
Understand how we can support the world around us with a good understanding of sustainability in different areas of the world.
Develop a range of life skills, which they can use and develop beyond school life.

We recognise the importance of assessing the impact of our Geography curriculum, and regularly evaluate its effectiveness through pupil voice, teacher and subject leader observations and analysis of children’s work. We use these forms of assessment to amend our curriculum and teaching approaches, when necessary, to ensure that we continue to provide a high-quality history education that meets the needs of all children. At the end of each topic, children complete a ‘double-page reflection’ about their learning. This allows all children to celebrate their learning and teachers to assess each child’s understanding, knowledge and skills.