Intent

At South Avenue, we believe that through the teaching and learning of geography we aim for children to develop a curiosity and an understanding of the world we live in including its people and their place within it. Geography helps to provoke questions and provide answers about the natural and human aspects of the world. Children are encouraged to develop a greater understanding and knowledge of the world, as well as their place in it. The geography curriculum at South Avenue primary school, enables children to develop knowledge and skills that are transferable to other curriculum areas. We seek to inspire in children a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people which will remain with them for the rest of their lives; to promote the children’s interest and understanding of diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments. The geography curriculum is designed to develop knowledge and skills that are progressive, as well as transferable, throughout their time at South Avenue Primary School and also to their further education beyond.

Implementation

• All year group medium term and long-term planning reflects a full curriculum coverage.
• Teachers have identified the key knowledge and skills of each blocked topic and consideration has been given to ensure progression across topics throughout each year group across the school.
• Cross curricular outcomes in geography are specifically planned for, with strong links between geography and literacy lessons identified, planned for and utilised.
• At the beginning of each topic, children are able to convey what they know already as well as what they would like to find out.
• Year groups endeavour to implement Wow moments at the start of topics to engage in the learning.
• Curriculum deficits have been utilised to identify areas of learning which have been lost due to COVID.
• Year groups organise Topic Days, WOW activities, visitors into school and trips to support children’s learning and develop understanding.
• Consideration is given to how greater depth will be taught, learnt and demonstrated within each lesson, as well as how learners will be supported in line with the school’s commitment to inclusion.

Impact

• Assessment is effectively carried out by teachers through the use of topic front cover pages. This allows teachers and children to see what skills need to be covered in the topic. Topic pages also provide a list of key vocabulary to support children throughout the learning sequence.
• Subject monitoring is carried out to inform subject action planning and next steps.
• Classroom environments reflect topics through displays.
• Children evaluate what they have learned comparative to their starting points at the end of every topic on their topic sheets.