Geography

Intent

At Welland Academy our Geography curriculum is designed to develop children’s curiosity and fascination about the world that will remain with them throughout their lives. We use CUSP (Curriculum with Unity Schools Partnership) as a base for our Geography curriculum. CUSP is an evidence and research led curriculum written by Alex Bedford.

Geography provides children with the opportunity to explore and discover the world around them from their very own classroom. It helps children to understand the world, its environments, and places near and far, and the processes that create and affect the world. Our curriculum promotes understanding and respect for the world, its environments as well as the diversity outside of the local area, thus providing the children with the skills, knowledge, and cultural wealth to prepare our children for life outside of school. As the future generation responsible for our planet, we want our children to have a sense of respect for the world and everything in it. We want 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. 

 

Implementation

At Welland Academy, we want our children to have a love for geographical learning and gain knowledge and skills through high quality teaching both inside and outside the classroom. Our curriculum is designed so that children have the opportunity to learn about themselves, their local area and then work out towards wider areas and regions of the world. Geography is taught in accordance with the EYFS framework and the National Curriculum for KS1 and KS2. We have developed a progression of skills for each year group, which enables pupils to build on and develop their knowledge and skills each year. Skills are taught discreetly with opportunities to regularly practice and apply them, enabling our pupils to then transfer these skills within other subjects.

We understand that Geography is a necessary partner for other subjects, for example History and that it allows us to understand past people and events in a deeper, more meaningful way.  It also partners well with our PE and outdoor learning provision through the use of co-ordinates and outdoor adventure activities. Working alongside oracy lessons, vocabulary is deliberately planned for and children are provided the opportunity to acquire, retain and use new language within their learning.

Location knowledge, fieldwork and map work are woven throughout the geography units. This includes fieldwork to the river at Ferry Meadows and the use of Digimap to access a wide range of maps.  Effective use of educational visits, local fieldwork and visitors are planned, to enrich and enhance the pupil’s learning experiences within the geography curriculum. It provides the children with opportunity to apply taught skills and develop a sense of the local area, building respect for the community.

Lessons are sequenced in a meaningful way, enabling prior knowledge to be built upon through the use of retrieval and small steps. Children are given a regular opportunity to retrieve learning from previous and current units. Children are given a knowledge organiser at the beginning of each unit and a knowledge strip within each lesson. These provide the children with scaffolded key facts and vocabulary that can be referred to and applied to support them in retaining key information.

 

 

Impact

Our Geography curriculum will lead pupils to be enthusiastic Geography learners, evidenced in a range of ways, including pupil voice and work. Evidence will show a broad and balanced curriculum and demonstrate children’s acquisition of identified key knowledge and application of vocabulary. At the start of each unit, children will complete a cumulative quiz where they will have the opportunity to share what they already know about a current topic. As children progress throughout the school, they will develop deep knowledge, an understanding and appreciation of their local area and its place within the wider geographical context.