Geography
At Highfields, Geography is a valued part of the curriculum, providing a purposeful means for exploring, appreciating and understanding the world in which we live and how it has evolved. Geography explores the relationship between Earth and its people through the study of place, space and environment. Geography is concerned with pupils learning about our locality of Nantwich, whilst becoming aware of and developing knowledge and understanding of the world beyond this environment.
Geography encourages children to learn through experience, particularly through practical and fieldwork activities.
The strands in our Geography curriculum are:
- Locational knowledge
- Place knowledge
- Human and physical geography
- Geographical skills and fieldwork
Curriculum Intent
Aims
To inspire pupils about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives.
To provide pupils with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments.
To develop a growing knowledge about the world to deepen their understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes, and of the formation and use of landscapes and environments.
To obtain Geographical knowledge, understanding and skills.
To enable children to learn and explain how the Earth’s features at different scales are shaped, interconnected and change over time.
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 half termly unit, focusing on knowledge and skills stated in the National Curriculum. 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.
The Geography curriculum at Highfields Academy is based upon the National Curriculum in England, which provides a broad framework and outlines the knowledge and skills and taught in each key stage. Teachers plan lessons for their class using our progression of knowledge and skills document. The progression document ensures the curriculum is covered and the skills/knowledge taught is progressive from year group to year group.
When teaching Geography, we also ensure we follow the children’s interests to ensure their learning is engaging, broad and balanced. We aim to use the outdoor environment as much as possible as so much learning can take place in the environment about which you are learning.
Educational visits are another opportunity for the teachers to plan for additional geography learning outside the classroom. . The children will the local area, including orienteering within the school grounds and conducting river studies. Local museums also provide an opportunity to further geography learning, as well as trips to local woods, castles and using map reading skills during residential trips.
Foundation Stage
Within the Early Years Foundation Stage, geography is included as part of Understanding the World. The children learn to investigate similarities and differences, the local environment and cultures and beliefs, fostering the skills essential to developing geographical understanding. This is set out in the EYFS curriculum as children needing to:
- Observe, find out about, and identify features in the place they live and the natural world;
- Begin to know about their own cultures and beliefs and those of other people;
- Find out about their environment and talk about those features they like and dislike.