Geography

Geography at our school encourages children to explore the world around them, from their local community to far-off places. Pupils learn about different environments, weather, landscapes, and cultures, and develop key skills such as map-reading and fieldwork. Through practical activities and thoughtful enquiry, children begin to understand how people and places are connected. We aim to inspire curiosity, build a sense of responsibility for the planet, and help every child appreciate the wonders of the world they live in.

Subject Leader - Helen Pratten

Curriculum Intent

Intent:

At Longton Primary School geography education should be fully inclusive to every child.  Our aims are to fulfil the requirements of the National Curriculum for Geography; providing a broad, balanced and differentiated curriculum; ensuring the progressive development of geographical concepts, knowledge and skills; and for the children to develop a love for geography. Geography is a vital part of the primary curriculum as it helps pupils understand the world, their place within it, and the relationships between people and environments. Through Geography, children develop curiosity, respect for the environment, and a sense of responsibility as global citizens. (The 2014 Primary National Curriculum in England)

Geography is taught by class teachers using the KAPOW scheme of work.

Kapow Primary’s Geography scheme of work aims to inspire pupils to become curious and explorative thinkers with a diverse knowledge of the world – in other words, to think like geographers. The intention is for pupils to develop the confidence to question and observe places, measure and record necessary data in a variety of ways and analyse and present their findings.

The scheme aims to build an awareness of how Geography shapes lives at multiple scales and over time. The hope is to encourage pupils to become resourceful, active citizens who will have the skills to contribute to and improve the world around them.

The scheme supports teachers in developing their subject knowledge and skills, enabling the delivery of engaging, well-informed lessons with confidence. The curriculum is designed to be both accessible and ambitious, ensuring all learners’ full participation and potential achievement.

Special Educational Needs Disability (SEND) / Pupil Premium / Higher Attainers

All children will have Quality First Teaching.  Any children with identified SEND or in receipt of pupil premium funding may have work additional to and different from their peers in order to access the curriculum dependent upon their needs.  As well as this, our school offers a demanding and varied curriculum, providing children with a range of opportunities in order for them to reach their full potential and consistently achieve highly from their starting points.

Curriculum Implementation

To ensure high standards of teaching and learning in geography, we implement a curriculum that is progressive throughout the whole school.  Geography is taught as part of a half - termly topic, focusing on knowledge and skills stated in the National Curriculum and following the structure of KAPOW.  At Longton Primary School, we ensure that Geography has the same importance given to it as the core subjects, as we feel this is important in enabling all children to gain ‘real-life’ experiences.

Kapow Primary supports teachers in delivering the Geography curriculum effectively through clear and informative CPD videos. These videos are designed to help teachers feel confident in their role by providing guidance on key concepts, teaching strategies and best practices.

Each lesson begins with a short activity revisiting prior learning. This helps reinforce key knowledge, activate long-term memory and create connections between past and new learning.

Recap and recall activities are varied to keep the start of the lesson engaging and fun while still supporting active recall.

Kapow Primary’s Geography scheme incorporates a spiral curriculum model, ensuring that children revisit and develop their understanding of key themes and concepts as they progress. This approach allows them to make meaningful connections, reinforce their learning and achieve mastery over time.

• Revisiting key concepts – pupils encounter the same ideas multiple times throughout their education, with each revisit adding more complexity.

• Progressive depth – concepts are not just repeated but expanded upon, helping pupils to make connections and develop a richer understanding over time.

• Knowledge retention – regular exposure to key ideas strengthens memory and prevents knowledge from being forgotten.

• Skill development – pupils refine and apply their skills in different contexts, improving their ability to think critically and solve problems.

• Adaptive learning – by building on prior knowledge, the curriculum meets pupils at their current level and supports all learners, including those who need extra reinforcement and those who are ready for greater challenges.

Geography teaching focuses on enabling children to think as geographers.  A variety of teaching approaches are used based on the teacher’s judgement.

Geography provides excellent opportunities to enhance the learning of more able pupils through the investigations, analysing sources and writing extending pieces.  These children will be selected for appropriate enrichment opportunities throughout the year.

At Longton Primary School we provide a variety of opportunities for geography learning inside and outside the classroom. Educational visits are an opportunity for the teachers to plan for additional geography learning outside the classroom.  At Longton Primary School, the children have had many opportunities to experience geography on educational visits.  The local nature reserve is regularly use to support and enhance the children’s learning, as well as residential trips supporting for example, orienteering skills and river studies.

Curriculum Impact

This section outlines how the curriculum checks what pupils know, understand and are able to do as a result of studying Geography.

Formative

Kapow Primary Geography lessons include ongoing assessment opportunities, such as questioning, retrieval practice and interactive activities. These enable teachers to assess understanding in real time and adapt their teaching accordingly.

Summative

Each unit provides an Assessment quiz and Knowledge catcher, which allow teachers to measure pupils’ understanding at key points. These tools help gauge how well pupils have retained key knowledge and skills over time.

Evidencing Progress

Written outcomes

·       Pupils demonstrate their learning and provide tangible evidence of progress through a variety of activities, including structured written work, annotated diagrams and creative responses.

·       Moderation staff meetings where pupil’s books are scrutinised and there is the opportunity for a dialogue between teachers to understand their class’s work.

·       Marking of written work in books.

Pupil voice

·       Lessons encourage discussion, reflection and verbal explanations. This allows teachers to capture pupils’ understanding through questioning, class discussions and recorded responses, supporting a broader view of progress beyond written work.

·       Formal reporting of standards across the curriculum.

·       Annual reporting of standards across the curriculum to parents. 

·       Subject tracker

The Geography subject leader will continually monitor the impact Geography teaching is having on the children’s learning through book looks and pupil chats to ensure the progress of knowledge and skills is being taught.  They will also ensure the knowledge taught is retained by the children and continually revisited and that the learners are able to apply the skills they have been taught to a variety of different settings, showing independence with their learning.  

Overview of Learning

Julie to add