Geography Subject Leader - Planning Statement
Geography is a valued part of the curriculum, providing a purposeful means for exploring, appreciating and understanding the world in which we live and how it has evolved. This curriculum closely follows the New National Curriculum focussing on four main areas: Locational Knowledge, Place Knowledge, Physical and Human and Geographical Skills and Fieldwork.
We use the Oddizzi scheme of work to deliver our Geography curriculum. It is an e-learning resource that immerses children into the real world and builds a solid understanding of the people, places and cultures of the world. It is produced by teachers, travel-writers and geographers. We supplement this with Digimaps for schools which provides both children and teachers with digital access to modern day and historic maps plus detailed aerial imagery. Teachers also use the Progression of Skills document to further inform their planning and assessment.
In Reception, opportunities are planned from the Early Years Foundation Stage in the EYFS Specific Area of ‘Understanding the World’. Teachers plan early experiences including exploring and investigating their immediate environment.
Teachers in KS1 and KS2 incorporate at least one field visit and/or a local trip to further enrich the children’s learning.
What makes our Geography curriculum exceptional?
1. It is underpinned by aims, values & purpose.
Geography matters because in our diverse society children need more than ever before, to understand other people and cultures.
e.g. Article 29 UN Convention of Rights of the Child: Education must develop every child’s personality, talents and abilities to the full. It must encourage the child’s respect for human rights, as well as respect for their parents, their own and other cultures, and the environment.
Lessons are based on the Guiding Principles of Rickmansworth Park School:
-To provide an education which develops the whole child.
-To provide a broad and balanced curriculum with a strong focus on enrichment opportunities.
-To teach children to understand their own rights and to respect the rights of others.
2. It develops the whole person – knowledge, skills, understanding & attitudes.
Skills – children learn to observe and interpret the environment, communicate their findings in drawings, charts and diagrams, undertake fieldwork, record and analyse data using ICT
Knowledge – understand distant places and environments, recognise how people from all over the world are linked through travel and trade, study different places, learn about major rivers, mountains and cities. Understanding and Attitudes – consider environment issues and develop a multicultural understanding.
3. It is broad and balanced.
Throughout the Key stages, children are taught a range of geographical skills
All aspects of the National Curriculum are covered.
Children gain an understanding of their place in the world. They look at how other people live across the world and develop an appreciation of their own lives.
Y3 study the location and human/physical features of Rio de Janeiro and South-East Brazil
Y4 study the location and features of the Amazon, situating it within the globe and the South American continent and compare and contrast it with South-East Brazil
Y5 study the names and locations of the world’s principal mountains, volcanoes and areas at risk from earthquakes
Y6 study the location and features of the UK and their local region when seen at a range of scales, from the global to the immediately local
CBBC Newsround (UK NEWS)
CBBC NEWSROUND (World News)
4. There is clear progression in subject knowledge and skills.
The Oddizzi scheme of work ensures coverage and progression across the school. Teachers use a progression of skills document when planning their lessons.
There is a balance between, place knowledge, field work, map skills, physical and human geography.
5. It is filled with rich first-hand experiences.
Staff work incredibly hard to enrich the Geography curriculum:
Reception go for a walk around the school
Y3 examine data to learn about different climates.
Y4 are hoping to plan a visit to Kew gardens
Reception draw maps when they walk to the library.
Y5 use Google Earth to visit peaks of famous mountain ranges
We use Digimaps for Schools which gives teachers and pupils online access to maps and aerial imagery.
6. It is flexible and responsive to individual needs and interests.
Children talk about their holidays and we link this to work about the world.
Teachers take the opportunity to use the knowledge of children who come from another country, e.g. Russia, Spain
7. It has an eye on the future and the needs of future citizens.
Children develop an attitude and form opinions about current issues, appreciate tensions and uncertainties and consider the future of the world and its people, e.g. global warning
Use of interactive white boards, digital cameras and the internet allow our children to record and interpret the world in new ways.
Children have also experienced:
Google Expeditions
Oddizzi Virtual field trips, for example, Y5 visit Mount Everest!
8. It encourages the use of environments and expertise beyond the classroom.
Field work gives our children direct experience of the real world.
Y1 study the geography of the school and its grounds and the local area.
Y4 visit the River Chess and observe its physical features using a range of methods (sketch maps, plans and graphs, and digital technologies). They then compare it to the Amazon.
Y6 Plan a UK road trip when they go on their school journey using maps and atlases.
9. It makes meaningful links between areas of knowledge across the curriculum.
Links are frequently made between Geography and History, e.g.
Y1 study the history of Lord Ebury’s railway and visit the Ebury Way when studying the local area.
Y3 study compass points when learning about magnets.
Y4 study the water cycle in Science when studying Rivers
10. It has a local, national and global dimension.
See curriculum overview.
Children develop an understanding that we are all interdependent global citizens with a responsibility to the planet and to each other, e.g.
Earth’s resources –energy
CBBC Newsround (UK NEWS)
CBBC NEWSROUND (World News)
11. It is supported by high quality Subject Leader CPD.
The Geography lead introduced and implemented a new geography scheme, Oddizzi, to ensure coverage of the National Curriculum and progression between year groups.
She also attended a course on assessment and progression.
12. SMSC is embedded within the curriculum.
(See SMCS Subject Statement)
Social, Moral, Spiritual, Cultural Links – Geography
Spiritual
Geography supports spiritual development by promoting a sense of wonder and fascination with the physical and human world. An understanding of scale is an important aspect of Geography and how small changes in climate can have far reaching consequences. Understanding that all life is linked together and create the processes that make Earth the only known inhabited planet.
Moral
Geography supports moral development by looking at a range of moral issues such how the development of cites have put pressure on wildlife. We cover moral issues of an ever increasing population and the different approaches taken by countries to tackle the problem. We explore issues of poverty and the moral dilemma of importing food and the consequences of it on global warming.
Social
Geography supports social development because social issues are common themes within geography. Children discuss issues such as global warming with an emphasis on how they can make a difference by making small changes to their lifestyles.
Cultural
Geography supports cultural development by helping children to understanding different cultures. Through geography children look at how different cultures and beliefs can impact on the environment and human issues. Children look at different places such as South America and are introduced to their customs and traditions allowing pupils to develop their humility and an understanding of the world as a global community.