Geography

Intent

At Mereside we recognise that Geographical knowledge and skills can help drive feelings of self-worth, an idea about where we fit in this world, a fascination in the world in which we live and a strong desire to protect and improve it. This links to our core value of love, where we learn to appreciate the unique cultures and diverse landscapes of our world. We are lucky enough to be located in a setting that provides strong fieldwork opportunities and experiences.

It is our intention that pupils become more expert as they progress through the curriculum, accumulating and connecting substantive and disciplinary geographical knowledge.

Substantive knowledge- this is the subject knowledge and explicit vocabulary used to learn about the content.

Disciplinary knowledge– this considers how geographical knowledge originates and is revised. It is through disciplinary knowledge that children gradually become more expert by thinking like a geographer.

This ensures that pupils develop the knowledge, skills and understanding of the key geographical concepts of contextual knowledge, processes (both physical and human) and geographical skills ensuring that they achieve/exceed the aims of the National Curriculum for Geography – Key Stages 1 and 2 (DfE, 2013).

Implementation

Geographical knowledge is taught explicitly in geography lessons so that children know more, remember more and can do more.

Substantive knowledge is organised into four interrelated forms locational knowledge, place knowledge and human and physical processes and geographical skills to ensure that pupils’ knowledge, skills and understanding are built upon through successive years towards clearly identified year group learning outcomes.

We follow the Curriculum with Plan Bee Geography scheme of work to support all levels of planning and teaching. This scheme has enabled a strategic sequence of study that builds content and concepts over time, with vocabulary comprehensively structured and thoughtfully sequenced across year groups with progression in knowledge. It ensures that pupils’ knowledge, skills and understanding are built upon through successive years towards clearly identified year group learning outcomes. Our PlanBee units have been restructured to fit the needs of our children and local area.

To ensure our curriculum is taught to develop cumulatively sufficient knowledge by the end of each Key Stage we follow the stages outlined below:

1.) Substantive knowledge for each subject is mapped from EYFS to Year 6 to ensure our children learn cumulatively sufficient knowledge by the end of each Key Stage.

2.) Disciplinary knowledge as geographical skills and fieldwork is mapped from EYFS to Year 6 to enable children to apply their knowledge as skills.

3.) Explicit teaching of vocabulary is central to children’s ability to connect new knowledge with prior learning.

4.) Retention of knowledge is aided through questioning, starter tasks, quizzes and peer-explanations, further consolidates the transfer of information from working memory to long-term memory. Quizzing etc are primarily learning strategies to improve retrieval practice – the bringing of information to mind.

5.) At the end of each unit, children create their own individual knowledge organisers which allows children to make connections and retrieve key information.

Our Early Years Curriculum is carefully planned and implemented to enable children to achieve the Early Learning Goals (ELGs). Through the Understanding the World goal children learn about their immediate environment, recognise places on maps and aerial photos, make their own maps and explore and contrast other places through images, video and stories. ELG objectives with geography content are mapped against Key Stage 1 objectives to ensure teaching is sequential throughout the school, building upon the children’s prior learning.

Our geography curriculum capitalises on Mereside’s unique location as part of the town of Shrewsbury. Our grounds and local area ensure fieldwork knowledge and skills are taught practically and our variation of educational visits within and beyond the locality consolidates children’s knowledge.

Impact

Our Geography curriculum ensures that children leave Mereside:

Remembering key knowledge of places and locations as outlined in the National Curriculum and how to source geographical information as required.

Able to use a variety of vital vocabulary with which to discuss their geographical knowledge and understanding.

Knowing how their actions affect the local environment and the sustainability of the Earth’s resources.

Training, planning and teaching our Geography curriculum ensures:

Teachers with secure subject knowledge, an appreciation of the structure of geography as a subject and an appreciation of the relationship between the two.