Intent

At Kirkbampton C of E School we inspire our children to love Geography!  We aim to give children a solid foundation of skills and knowledge that they will take with them once they leave our school. We aim to spark interest and encourage awe and wander about the World that they live in. The geography curriculum will be varied, progressive and creative to ensure first and foremost that our children foster a lifelong love and interest for Geography.

Through a curriculum centred around skills and knowledge, we ensure that children have a solid foundation and understanding of skills such as: using a compass, locating places on a globe and map, using aerial photographs to gain a ‘birds eye view’ of a place.

We use our location near Carlisle to provide children with opportunities to explore and learn about the city in which they live and to compare it with other places around the world. We also explore the areas more closely to the school to give the children a wide variety of experiences. This ensures a good, solid basis of the wonderful, interesting and historic places the children live.  Children are then given the opportunity to compare and contrast these local areas to other European and Non- European countries giving them a depth of knowledge of a wide variety of towns, cities and countries.

Children in Kirkbampton School are given the opportunity to use local areas and compare and contrast them with a different town or city to see how people live in other parts of the world. We aim to bring alive places for the children by giving them exciting class trips. We use our field work to bring Geography alive for the children and to provide them a sense of wonder and excitement about visiting places around the world that they can take with them into their adult lives and raise global awareness of how we interact with our world.

Implementation

A recent audit of the Geography curriculum has allowed us to create a comprehensive, progressive skills and knowledge set for the children at Kirkbampton School. We are clear about the skills we want children to learn and we ensure these skills are consolidated and built upon each year to ensure children gain the long-term knowledge and excitement of Geography that they can take with them throughout their lives.

For example, in Year 1, children are taught the 4 points of the compass. They are encouraged to use the compass in context during the walk around the local area where they make their own maps using this knowledge.  In Years 2 and 3, children re-cap the 4 points of the compass ensuring that their knowledge is embedded, but they are given the opportunity to expand their understanding by using the compass to map read and to create their own maps. In Year 4, children develop an understanding of the 8 points of the compass and again in Years 5 and 6, as well as this knowledge being consolidated, the children use the 8 points during map work and orienteering, again providing them with a skill set for life.

We also give children the opportunity to gain valuable skills in regards to map reading, including; maps, globes, atlases, aerial photographs, computer mapping, Google Earth, index skills and ordinance survey.

We want children to develop an interest and excellent knowledge of places and how they compare and contrast with each other. We foster good, solid geographical knowledge and vocabulary for the children as well as exciting field work opportunities for them to use and develop their skills.

Impact 

We use the clearly planned skills and knowledge grid to inform and adapt our planning to ensure all skills are covered in each Year group and children have developed long term knowledge of the key concepts in Geography.  Staff have a clear understanding of each subject and topics taught in each year group so are able to consolidate and clearly build on previous knowledge and understanding.  Monitoring in Geography includes; book scrutinies in which books are monitored on a termly basis allowing constructive feedback and guidance between the subject co-ordinator and class teachers, as well as regular feedback to the Headteacher.  Lesson observations also take place regularly, plus learning walks and feedback from staff during curriculum staff meetings. All of this is used to inform further curriculum developments and provision. At Kirkbampton School, staff work closely together as a team to ensure children receive the best Geography curriculum to allow them to develop a love of learning and skill set to become keen Geographers for life.

Geography develops children’s knowledge and understanding of people and places. At Kirkbampton C of E Primary School, we learn about the wider world as well as local areas, looking at the physical, social and economic issues surrounding each case study. Use of maps, atlases, photos and the internet ensures a well-balanced and interactive method of learning for all pupils. There are many cross-curricular links with subjects such as literacy, numeracy and ICT.

In the Early Years Foundation Stage, children learn about similarities and differences in relation to places, objects and materials. They are encouraged to discuss their own immediate environment and describe how environments may vary from one to another.

During Key Stage 1 and 2, pupils explore physical and human differences in the world around them. Children learn about the skills needed to ask geographical questions about a locality in the UK compared to a locality in a less economically developed country. Children are taught how settlements differ and change and they discuss environmental issues linked to these. Children also learn about water and its effect on landscapes such as rivers and coasts. They are taught differences in weather and the effect of climate change.