Intent

The intention of the Geography curriculum at Barwic Parade is to provide children with the opportunity to explore the world that we live in and it’s people with interest, curiosity and inquisitiveness. Geography provokes and provides answers about the physical natural and human world. This inevitably allows children to develop their understanding of this environment and their place within it. Through our teaching we will equip children with the geographical skills required to develop their knowledge of the natural world. Geography lessons provide children with the opportunities to develop their practical skills as well as knowledge base covering the topics of: Geographical skills and fieldwork, locational knowledge, place knowledge and human and physical geography.

Here are some children from year 3 who created 3D models of their learning around mountains and rivers, an excellent cross-curricula link to Art. 

Year 5/6 using Grid References to locate different local landmarks.

Implementation

Geography is taught in 'topics' across the school in hour-long sessions and is done as part of our mixed-age curriculum. Objectives for each year group are covered over a two year cycle and our geography curriculum is based upon our reflections of the National Curriculum content as well as ensuring that cultural capital is developed. We feel that it is vital to add further depth to children’s geographical exploration. At Barwic Parade we believe that having knowledge and experience of the world is vital. This belief is the golden thread that runs through our whole school curriculum. To ensure the children experience a world wide journey they regularly participate in planned 'Globetrotter' events. 

Our most recent Globetrotter event was focused on the beautiful country of Italy. We are very lucky here at Barwic as one of our parents is from Sardinia and came to talk to the children about 'Life in Italy'. Here is what the children had to say about it:

'Speaking to someone who is actually from Italy was really helpful.'

'A helpful learning experience, I was really interesting to learn all about the food. Although, his choice of favourite pizza topping was a little strange.' 

Children across the school learn about a different topic every term. These topics are then revisited at specific intervals through 'mini-quizzes' to refresh previous knowledge, deepen understanding and encourage schema to develop. Through this approach, children are able to make links between different aspects of geography, allowing for the transference of skills across the topic and other curriculum areas. This will be further enhanced through the use of our newly installed world maps within each classroom. During the teaching of other curriculum subjects, teachers will make the link to geography explicit using the map as a reference. Children will also have access to a range of age appropriate resources such as globes and atlases; this also includes online resources such as google earth and google maps through use of our Ipads and Chromebooks.

Below are examples of our Geography planning from the Autumn term. 

Impact

Assessments are planned into the curriculum in order to inform teaching which in turns helps support our children.

Children will leave Barwic Parade Community Primary School with an awareness and understanding of their local area, the United Kingdom and the wider world.

Pupil Voice

Upper Key Stage Two

What does Geography mean to you?

Most children told me that geography was learning about different countries, the world and landmarks.

Tell me about the big map in your classroom.

Children identified  it was a world map and used the correct vocabulary when describing it: hemisphere, continents, countries etc. One child said ‘It helps you to figure out where different places are’. They also told me about the places that they have been studying in different curriculum areas with places such as: Poland, Germany and Africa highlighted. 

Tell me about your Geography learning so far this year.

When asked about their learning children told me about biomes, grasslands and landmarks

Lower Key Stage Two

What does Geography mean to you?

Children told me that Geography was about the world and different mountains and that you can use a map to help you.

Tell me about the big map in your classroom.

Maps on display reflect learning in a variety of curriculum areas such as music and Spanish.  We use the map in Geography a well as other lesson like music and recently in Spanish.’ Children explained that the map was a world map and included different features such as mountains and rivers.

Tell me about your Geography learning so far this year.

‘We are learning about mountains in Geography.’ Children also mentioned their previous learning on rivers.

Key Stage One

What does Geography mean to you?

It's about going around the world and different places and countries.

'The world is such an interesting place.'

'I really like learning about new places.'

Tell me about the big map in your classroom.

It helps us in Geography and other lessons. We know about other countries like Cuba (recent Globetrotters event) 

Tell me about your Geography learning so far this year.

The children simultaneously sang the continents song that they had learnt! Here are a just few of them singing it for you!

Reception

The children in reception had clear understanding of their learning in Geography. They describe the world as 'special' and named countries that have personal significance for them such as Poland and Spain. 

They told me that they had a globe and a 'Big map' in their classroom which helped them to find different countries. One child took me inside to show me where they were located. 

The children were very aware of their immediate environment. 'I live in Selby and so does my friend. We live nearby just around the corner.'

One child was very keen to tell me and the Queen and our capital city of London. This reflects currently learning on the Queen's recent Platinum Jubilee.