Geography
Intent
Geography teaches an understanding of places and environments. Through their work in geography, children at Avenue Primary Academy learn about their local area and compare their life in this area with that in other regions in the United Kingdom and in the rest of the world. They learn how to draw and interpret maps and they develop the skills of research, investigation, analysis and problem-solving. Through their growing knowledge and understanding of human geography, children gain an appreciation of life in other cultures. Geography teaching also motivates children to find out about the physical world and enables them to recognise the importance of sustainable development for the future of mankind.
Implementation
We use a variety of teaching and learning styles in our geography lessons. We believe in whole-class teaching methods and we combine these with enquiry-based research activities. We encourage children to ask as well as answer geographical questions. We offer them the opportunity to use a variety of sources, such as maps, statistics, graphs, pictures, and aerial photographs, and we enable them to use ICT in geography lessons where this serves to enhance their learning. Children take part in group discussions, and they present their ideas to the rest of the class. They engage in a wide variety of problem-solving activities. Wherever possible, we involve the children in ‘real’ geographical activities, e.g. research of a local environmental problem or use of the Internet to investigate a current issue.
We recognise the fact that there are children of widely different geographical abilities in all classes and we provide suitable learning opportunities for all children by matching the challenge of the task to the ability of the child. We achieve this by:
- setting common tasks which are open-ended and can have a variety of responses and outcomes
- setting differentiated tasks according to ability with increasing difficulty, some children completing only certain sections
- depending on the task, teacher assessment will group children according to their ability or in mixed ability groups
- providing resources of different complexity according to the ability of the child.
Impact
Our geography curriculum aims to:
- Enable children to gain knowledge and understanding of places in the world
- Increase children’s knowledge of other cultures and in so doing, teach a respect and understanding of what it means to be a positive citizen in a multi-cultural country
- Allow children to learn graphic skills, including how to use, draw and interpret maps
- Enable children to know and understand environmental problems at a local, regional and global level
- Encourage in children a commitment to sustainable development and to begin to have an understanding of “global citizenship”.
- Develop a variety of other skills, including those of enquiry, problem solving, ICT, investigation and how to present their conclusions in the most appropriate way.
The outcomes in books, evidence a broad and balanced geography curriculum and express children’s acquisition of identified key knowledge relating to each of the identified national curriculum strands, as appropriate to each key stage; locational knowledge, place knowledge and human and physical geography. This is in addition to the development and application of key skills, supported by fieldwork. As children progress throughout the school, they develop a deep knowledge, understanding and appreciation of their local area and its place within the wider geographical context. The impact of our geography curriculum is that our learners are armed with the geographical skills and knowledge that will permit them to be ready for their transition into secondary education and for life as an adult. The children will be able to examine their learning and establish their knowledge and understanding through a variety of activities.
The curriculum overview shows the learning that will take place in geography in each year group. The roadmaps show the progression of skills in geography as children move through the school.