Geography

At Fairfield Park Lower School, we value Geography. WE ARE GEOGRAPHERS!

Geography education should inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives.

At Fairfield Park Lower School, we teach our pupils to have good knowledge and understanding of the world around them and the local community in which they live. We believe that geography provides a way for children to develop a sense of curiosity and appreciation for the diverse world we live in.

Our Geography curriculum aims to equip pupils with lifelong skills and knowledge about places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes, including fieldwork.

As our pupils progress, their growing knowledge about the world will help them to deepen their understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes, and of the formation and use of landscapes and environments.

Through our teaching of geography, we will investigate environmental concerns with the aim that our pupils will become responsible adults who protect our planet for future generations.

For our Progression of Skills in Geography, please click the following link:

Geography Progression of Knowledge and Skills Yr Rec - Yr 4

 Intent

At Fairfield Park Lower School, we believe that Geography should pique curiosity and inspire a lifelong appreciation for the world we live in.

 Through our carefully planned curriculum combined with high quality teaching, we endeavour to equip our pupils with lifelong skills and knowledge about places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the earth’s key physical and human processes.

 As our pupils progress, their growing knowledge about the world will help them to deepen their understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes, and of the formation and use of landscapes and environments.

 At Fairfield Park Lower School, we acknowledge the importance of fieldwork and how this can inspire enquiry based learning. We are also passionate about developing pupils with a deep understanding of the use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and how these are used in our everyday lives and also provide them with the skills to use GIS in their own enquiries.

 Our three drivers are focused around creating responsible and conscious members of society. We link these to Geography in the following ways:

Environment – We encourage pupils to consider environmental geography and sustainability through both topic based learning and our environment project weeks.

 Diversity – We want pupils to become open minded tolerant, respectful and aspirational world citizens who appreciate difference and diversity. In Geography, we encourage pupils to extend their knowledge and understanding from their local area and community to the global sphere. We encourage pupils and staff to challenge stereotypes and address misconceptions when teaching Geography.

 The Arts – We encourage pupils to present their learning in creative ways, through presentations, models, posters, songs, drama and dance.

Through the teaching and learning of Geography, our pupils become better equipped to understand the fascinating, curious, diverse and ever changing world that we live in. Thus ensuring that they are key in ensuring its survival.

Implementation

 At Fairfield Park Lower School, we have a clear and comprehensive scheme of work mapped from the National Curriculum documents showing clear intent and progressions of skills for Geography.

Whilst the EYFS and National Curriculum forms the foundation of our curriculum, we want to encourage pupils to make links between the knowledge and skills they acquire and so we teach a topic each half term which are driven by enquiry-based questions that give them focus and promote curiosity.

 

In KS1 and KS2 Geography is taught in blocks, typically alternating half-termly with History. This ensures that pupils have time to deepen their knowledge and understanding, make links across other subjects to encourage retention of information and also gives them opportunities to make their own enquiries.

Each topic begins with a ‘WOW Day’ and ends with a ‘Fab Finish’. The purpose of the ‘WOW Day’ is to hook pupils through an exciting start to the topic; it also allows pupils to consider questions they may want to discover the answers to throughout the topic. The ‘Fab Finish’ allows pupils to celebrate all of their learning and often gives them opportunities to apply their knowledge and understanding in a cross curricular approach.

 

In EYFS, we have a similar approach with half-termly topics but Geography is taught through child initiated learning and activities linked to ‘People, Culture and Communities’. This lays the foundations for Geography progression as pupils move through the school.

 

Our Geography Progression of Skills document has carefully broken down the curriculum into Key vocabulary, Location knowledge, Place Knowledge, Human and Physical Geography and Geographical skills and Fieldwork by Year group from EYFS to Year 4. This means that there is clear progression for pupils in Geography as they move through the school. It also means that teachers have a clear idea what has been taught the previous year so they can fill any gaps in learning and build upon what skills have already been obtained.

 

In regards to Fieldwork, we work hard to utilise our local area and school grounds to meet desired outcomes. We combine Fieldwork with a simple GIS ‘Digimaps for Schools’, this allows us to investigate our local area from different viewpoints, explore maps, mark out routes, use measuring tools to measure coastal erosion and so much more.

Pupils have access to many different Geographical resources including but limited to; globes, maps, photographs, postcards, books, compasses, fieldwork kits, simple GIS and artefacts from different countries.

 Impact

 Children will develop a secure understanding of the world that we live in and how and why it is a diverse and fascinating world to live in.

The children will be able to speak passionately about places that spark a particular interest to them.

A spark of curiosity will be lit in the hope that children will want to explore the world for themselves.

The majority of children will reach age related expectations at the end of each stage or key stage of learning.

Children will have the foundations in place to use more advanced GIS higher up in their schooling.

Children will have the skills to carry out their own enquiry-based learning.

Children will be able to transfer their skills of other subjects to present their Geographical findings clearly.

Learning Snapshot