Geography

Vision

At Northiam, through carefully planned learning opportunities and fieldwork, we inspire curiosity and knowledge in abundance about the physical and human processes. From their locality to the wider world, children will gain an in-depth understanding of diverse places, people and resources. By following the National Curriculum, our children develop their knowledge and understanding of places as well as developing their sense of identity through learning about their local area and the wider world. As a rural school, we take advantage of our surroundings and all the children will have visits to our local area throughout the year. The children also gain knowledge and understanding of patterns and processes and can recognise and explain selected physical and human processes. At Northiam we passionately teach our children about environmental relationships and issues and help them to develop an awareness of how people damage or improve the environment. Our children also develop the geographical skills and vocabulary necessary to carry out effective geographical enquiries.

Implementation

At Northiam, the learning of Geography promotes:

An understanding of the causes and consequences of change through physical and human actions and processes.
Knowledge and understanding of people, cultures and events in a variety of places and at different times.
Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.
A desire to be proactive local and global citizens.
Skills in questioning, formulating opinions and arguments, making judgements and carrying out investigations.

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 our ‘Explore’ focus term, focusing on knowledge and skills stated in the National Curriculum. Through enquiry based curriculum, we develop a deeper understanding of the geography skills.

In order to teach fieldwork skills and engage the children, the teaching of Geography, wherever possible, will be practical and outdoor based – enabling all children to gain ‘real-life’ experiences.

Reading will thread into the teaching of Geography: from learning new vocabulary at the beginning of each topic to reading keys on maps, the children will be exposed to different reading opportunities wherever possible.

The Geography curriculum at Northiam C of E Primary School is based upon the 2014 Primary National Curriculum in England, which provided a broad framework and outlines the knowledge and skills that are taught in each Key Stage. Teachers plan lessons for their class using our Geography subject story. Teachers can use this document to plan their Geography lessons suitable to their class’s interests and what they want to learn. The subject story document ensures the curriculum is covered and the skills and knowledge taught is progressive from year group to year group.

Geography provides excellent opportunities to enhance the learning of more able pupils through interventions, analysing sources and writing extending pieces. Children showing extensive aptitude in Geography will be given opportunities to showcase their learning by completing tasks and challenges that do not restrict their output.

Educational visits are another opportunity for the teachers to plan for additional Geography learning outside the classroom. At Northiam C of E Primary, the children have had many opportunities to experience Geography on educational visits. The children have explored the local area surveys in the village and have visited the local woodland, and bluecross site – which are within close proximity to the school.

Impact

Through well-planned and progressive teaching of geographical skills, children will leave Northiam C of E Primary School with a clear understanding of the human and physical features of their locality and the world. They will be explorative, asking geographical questions that are of interest to them. They will have advanced fieldwork skills that they can apply to real-world scenarios. Children leaving Northiam C of E Primary School will be Geographers.