Geography

Intent

At The Rosary Primary School, pupils are encouraged to develop a greater understanding and knowledge of the world, as well as their place in it. Geography is a knowledge rich subject and the geography curriculum at The Rosary Catholic Primary School enables our children to develop knowledge and skills that are transferable to other curriculum areas.

As not all class teachers are geography specialists, we have designed a clearly sequenced curriculum that is rich in knowledge and that asks questions of our pupils as they study each topic. This encourages deeper thought and reflection. In our programme, these questions are denoted by the term Rosary Geographer. Teachers can however include their own ‘take’ on a topic and adapt the delivery to a way that suits their own class.

Our aim is for our pupils to know more and to remember more in geography. We aim for them to know more by making the core knowledge for each topic explicit. We aim for them to remember more through pop quizzes, the use of knowledge organisers and regular revision of key dates and facts.

We aim that our pupils will:

have a sense of curiosity and enjoyment through high quality resources, books, technologies; to participate in independent and self-directed research
have experience of Cultural Capital in a variety of different forms by exposing them to a wide range of experiences; school trips, experience days, use of digital technologies; and to study the significance and diversity of people and cultures
be resilient, independent and self-motivated by participating in class debates and discussions on current geographical topics where they are able to express themselves and boost their confidence and self-esteem
ask questions and problem solve by asking questions, exploring texts and searching for meanings
To be global citizens of the twenty first century by seeking to inspire in our pupils a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people which will remain with them for the rest of their lives. Through approaching geography in this manner, we encourage an interest and understanding of diverse places, people, resources, and natural and human environments as well as an interest in our planet’s future and the issues this presents.

Implementation

We value a knowledge led curriculum where we also aim to develop children’s thinking and reasoning.

We have developed a bespoke curriculum for the school that adheres to the requirements of the National Curriculum. Our curriculum has been designed to develop knowledge and skills progressively. Pupils build on these year on year as they move through the school and pupils are therefore able to make links between different geography topics and other areas of the curriculum.

We make good use of our locality and ensure that our teaching is rich in vocabulary. We use ‘living’ working walls to record our learning in geography each week so that previous learning can be referred to and links made.

Teachers utilise the local area as well as guest speakers (where applicable) to achieve the desired outcomes.

We have designed our own Learn, Recall and Remember prompts. These fact sheets contain key geographical information. These are revisited regularly throughout a topic through frequent quick fire questioning and informal quizzes. We aim for our pupils to know more and remember more.

Impact

We measure the impact of our geography curriculum through the following methods:

In Class Feedback

In Geography, we understand that feedback in linked to progress and has to be timely to make an impact. In class feedback is used to support teacher’s workload, ensure it is as immediate and timely and specific as possible

Assessment

Geography is a subject that embraces discussion and reflection. Teachers therefore assess oral contribution in lessons i.e. the confidence and ability of a pupil to express ideas based or based upon opinion and perspective.

Pupils complete a double page spread at the end of each geography topic to show their understanding of key geographical knowledge.

Same day interventions are also used to pick up on misconceptions from the current days teaching and learning.

Teaching Assistants and Interventions

Teaching assistants may be used in geography lessons in the following ways:

to support the writing/language element of a task
to encourage pupil debate in small groups
to encourage the use of accurate geographical vocabulary
School reports

Attainment in geography is reported to parents at the end of the school year.

Our geography curriculum prepares pupils well for further geography study at Key Stage 3 and beyond.

At The Rosary Catholic Primary School we believe that geography is an integral part of understanding our place in the world and how we can contribute to its future.

Useful Geography Websites

Geography

Intent

Implementation

Impact

Useful Geography Websites

Year 1: Where Do I Live?

Year 1: Amazing Animals

Year 2: Contrasting Localities

Year 2: Transport

Year 2: Under the Sea

Year 3: Natural Disaster!

Year 3: Perfect Planet?

Year 4: Water, Water Everywhere!

Year 4: Heston Detectives

Year 5: Contrasting Regions

Year 5: United Kingdom Explorer

Year 6: Explorers/North and South America