Geography

Intent, Implementation and Impact Statement

Intent

At Aston Rowant, we aim for a high-quality geography curriculum which should inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about their local area and the wider world. Our teaching equips pupils with knowledge of the location of globally significant places and an understanding of the processes that give rise to key physical and human geographical features of the world. Children are also equipped with the skills to collect data and analyse data through experiences of fieldwork, interpret a range of geographical information (maps, atlases, globes, ariel photographs etc.) and communicate this information in a variety of ways. We want children to enjoy and love learning about history by gaining this knowledge and skills, not just through experiences in the classroom, but also with the use of fieldwork and educational visits.

Implementation

The National curriculum organises the geography attainment targets under four subheadings or strands:

• Locational knowledge

• Place knowledge

• Human and physical geography

• Geographical skills and fieldwork

In ensuring high standards of teaching and learning in geography, a clear progression of skills and knowledge within these four strands is taught across each year group. The curriculum is organised as a spiral curriculum, with essential knowledge and skills revisited with increasing complexity, allowing pupils to revise and build on their previous learning.

Locational knowledge, in particular, will be reviewed in each unit to coincide with our belief that this will consolidate children’s understanding of key concepts, such as scale and place. Cross-curricular links are included throughout each unit, allowing children to make connections and apply their Geography skills to other areas of learning. Our enquiry questions form the basis for our Key stage 1 and 2 units, meaning that pupils gain a solid understanding of geographical knowledge and skills by applying them to answer enquiry questions. We have designed these questions to be open-ended with no preconceived answers and therefore they are genuinely purposeful and engage pupils in generating a real change. In attempting to answer them, children learn how to collect, interpret and represent data using geographical methodologies and make informed decisions by applying their geographical knowledge. Each unit contains elements of geographical skills and fieldwork to ensure that fieldwork skills are practised as often as possible. Our geography planning follows an enquiry cycle that maps out the fieldwork process of question, observe, measure, record, and present, to reflect the elements mentioned in the National curriculum. This ensures children will learn how to decide on an area of enquiry, plan to measure data using a range of methods, capture the data and present it to a range of appropriate stakeholders in various formats. Fieldwork includes smaller opportunities on the school grounds to larger-scale visits to investigate physical and human features. Developing fieldwork skills within the school environment and revisiting them in multiple units enables pupils to consolidate their understanding of various methods. It also gives children the confidence to evaluate methodologies without always having to leave the school grounds and do so within the confines of a familiar place. This makes fieldwork regular and accessible while giving children a thorough understanding of their locality, providing a solid foundation when comparing it with other places.

At Aston Rowant School, we believe it's crucial to provide pupils with opportunities for exploratory talk during their learning. This involves thinking aloud, questioning, discussing, and collaboratively building ideas. Similarly, developing oracy skills is essential for pupils to express and articulate themselves effectively across various contexts and settings, including formal ones like public speaking, debates, and interviews. Through our geography curriculum, pupils have opportunities to develop their oracy skills by:

• Verbally responding to questions using geographical vocabulary.
• Summarising information from videos and texts.
• Collaboratively engaging in an enquiry cycle.
• Brainstorming initial ideas to address an enquiry question.
• Conducting interviews during fieldwork to gather information.
• Exploring issues through drama techniques (hot-seating, conscience alley and freeze-framing).
• Presenting findings to a range of audiences in person and using media.
• Performing songs and poems to enhance content knowledge.

Impact

Each term a new geographical unit is taught, and lessons incorporate various teaching strategies from independent tasks to paired and group work, including practical hands-on, computer-based and collaborative tasks. Our enquiry-based approach to learning allows teachers to assess children against the National curriculum expectations for Geography. The impact can be monitored through both formative and summative assessment opportunities during and after each unit taught. Furthermore, each unit has opportunities for children to present their findings using their geographical skills to form part of the assessment process. Pupils should leave Aston Rowant equipped with a range of skills and knowledge to enable them to study Geography with confidence at Key stage 3. We hope to shape children into curious and inspired geographers with respect and appreciation for the world around them alongside an understanding of the interconnection between the human and the physical.