Intent
At Cockfield Primary School our Geography curriculum has been designed with the aim of inspiring in pupils a curiosity, fascination, awe and wonder about the world and the people that live in it, that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. Our geography curriculum is enquiry based and knowledge rich. We intend to equip children with geographical skills to develop their knowledge through studying places, people and natural and human environments. Through our teaching, we intend to provoke thought and questioning, encouraging children to discover answers to their own questions through exploration and research to enable them to gain a greater understanding and knowledge of the world and their place in it. The geography curriculum at Cockfield makes full use of resources within the immediate and wider local area enabling children to develop a deep understanding of their locality. Children’s interests are pursued and pupil voice helps shape the curriculum.
Implementation
Our geography curriculum is enquiry based and knowledge rich. We believe that learning is the long-term retention of knowledge and the ability to transfer it to new contexts and that children learn best by having opportunities to revisit previous learning. Therefore, we teach geography termly, allowing children to build on their previous knowledge so that the children can fully immerse themselves and have opportunities to reflect and build on prior learning. Our long term plan allows each class to develop their prior learning from the previous year. The key knowledge and skills that children acquire and develop throughout each block have been mapped to ensure progression between year groups throughout the school.
Our curriculum is laid out in such a way that the children will initially learn about their immediate locality: their family and location. This will be a starting block in EYFS and built upon as they enter Key Stage 1. Once this is consolidated, they will gain a wider experience of the world we live in. As a child moves through our school, their geographical knowledge and understanding will deepen and connections will be made across geography topics. The concepts that children explore are revisited in different units allowing children to apply new knowledge to the concept in order to prepare them for future learning and life. As children progress, their growing knowledge about the world helps them to deepen their understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes, and of the formation and use of landscapes and environments. Geographical knowledge, understanding and skills provide the frameworks and approaches that explain how the Earth’s features at different scales are shaped, interconnected and change over time.
Impact
We use rigorous monitoring throughout the year to gauge the impact of the curriculum design. Senior leaders and subject leaders carefully monitor geography: reviewing learning, evaluating pupil voice, providing individual feedback to move practice forward, celebrating positives and highlighting areas of development. Coverage and progress are accurately assessed through careful analysis of the application of skills as children move through the geography curriculum.
The intended impact of our geography curriculum is that children build knowledge, make connections between this knowledge and use it to explore and create. The children will have a sound understanding of Geography in the world around them and gain a rich cultural capital. They will be given the opportunity to develop geographical skills, which they will continue to develop and practice throughout their whole school journey.