Geography

Geography is the study of the world and its people.  At Godstone Primary and Nursery School we use David Weatherley’s Connected Curriculum to inspire the children’s curiosity through enquiry-led learning.

Intent

• Have access to a broad, balanced, relevant and differentiated geography curriculum by fulfilling the Educational Programmes and National Curriculum for Geography through engaging enquiry based lessons.
• To support each child to develop a sense of their identity and place in the world.
• To build on the child’s personal knowledge and understanding of geography by providing them with opportunities to explore, understand and appreciate the world around them, whilst also enriching each child’s cultural capital.
• To provide children with a high-quality education, which stimulates curiosity, about places and environments by providing them with experiences and memorable fieldwork activities.
• To discover more abbot the physical and human world and empower the children to recognise the significance of sustainable development for the future.
• To develop the children’s understanding and use of geographical vocabulary.
• To provide children with a pedagogy that is supportive and engaging and that will allow each child to make progress.

Implication

• Following David Weatherly’s conference, a new scheme was introduced and embedded in the curriculum in September 2021 from Year 1 through to Year 6.
• To monitor assessment linked to the enquiry skills.
• Planning from Connected Geography, taught in three half-termly units in KS1 and KS2.
• The EYFS includes geographical skills and knowledge through Understanding the World and across the curriculum e.g. in Literacy and a sense of belonging in PSED.
• A variety of teaching and learning styles are used in geography lessons, including discussions, presentations, representations, diagrams and images, research, visits, speakers, ICT and fieldwork.
• Visits, visitors and first hand experiences that promote curiosity and provide children with key knowledge on a range of topics.
• Use of knowledge organisers to help support new vocabulary and commit selected knowledge to children’s long-term memory.

Impact

• Connected Geography will provide all children with meaningful learning experiences that contribute to their cultural capital and understanding of the wider world.
• Improvement in children’s se and understanding of vocabulary.
• Use knowledge organisers to ensure that subject content and vocabulary is committed to their long term memory.
• Clear and accurate assessment for geography across KS1 and KS2 using the assessment tracker.
• Opportunities for developing teachers’ pedagogy and subject knowledge through the planning and resources provided.
• Providing children with a set of skills to embed a lifelong love of learning.
• Children have a contextual understanding of their community and the world around them.
• Teaching children new vocabulary to enable them to read further and encourage life skills in the future.