Intent

The teaching of geography at Barford Primary School aims to nurture a fascination with the people and places around the world, across a diverse range of countries and cultures. Many of the topics in our creative curriculum have a geographical focus allowing the children to develop a breadth of knowledge and understanding of geographical concepts and skills.

In our geography curriculum, we distinguish between subject knowledge and subject skills. Subject knowledge relates to the specific aspects of subjects that are studied, such as ‘Mexico’ in year 6, ’What a wonderful World’ in year 2, and ‘Volcanoes’ in Year 3. Subject skills tie together the topics into a meaningful schema, as these same skills are explored throughout the school in a wide breadth of topics. The key subject skills we aim to develop are:

• Investigate places
  • Using maps, atlases and globes to identify the United Kingdom and its countries, as well as the countries, continents and oceans studied.
  • Identify key features of a location in order to say whether it is a city, town, village, coastal or rural area.
  • Use fieldwork and observational skills to study the geography of the school and the key human and physical features of its surrounding environment.
  • Use aerial images and plan perspectives to recognise landmarks and basic physical features.
• Investigate patterns
  • Understand geographical similarities and differences through studying the human and physical geography of a small area of the UK and of a contrasting non-European country.
  • Identify seasonal and daily weather patterns.
  • Identify land use around the school
• Communicate geographically
  • Use basic geographical vocabulary to refer to key physical features and key human features.
  • Use compass directions and locational language to describe the location of features and routes on a map.
  • Devise maps using grid references and symbols using a key.We return to these key skills throughout a child’s journey in our school, each time building on their prior knowledge, extending their confidence and understanding. The development of these key geographical skills is the cornerstone of our geography teaching here at Barford.

Implementation

• Geography topics are taught as part of our creative curriculum.
• Retrieval of previously learned content is frequent and regular, increasing both storage and retrieval strength of topics and concepts.
• Carefully selected trips and visits allow children to immerse themselves in their learning.
• Fieldwork in our local area and around the school grounds support children learning geographically.
• Use of maps and atlases frequently.
• Application of language and skills through outdoor adventurous activities such as orienteering.

Impact

To measure impact we assess the children’s understanding of the key knowledge and skills using and end of topic quiz. Their ability to apply these to their learning allows them to access the curriculum with increasing confidence and geographical skills. We also provide opportunities that are built upon each year and children have regular opportunities to recall learning from previous topics.