Geography at Lea

Our Geography champion is: Miss Lightfoot

At Lea, we are Geographers. We inspire our children with a sense of curiosity and wonder about the world around them. We want our children to develop a deep understanding of the physical and human landscapes of different places, and to appreciate the diverse cultures and societies that make up our planet. Through our Geography curriculum, we aim to equip our children with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to become responsible global citizens who can contribute to a sustainable future for all.

We enable our children to develop into keen geographers whereby knowledge and understanding becomes deeply rooted in their long-term memory. Our children understand their place in the world and understand their roles and responsibilities in their immediate and wider environment.

At Lea, Geography is an investigative subject, which helps to further develop the children’s learning of concepts, knowledge, and skills. We aim to utilise our extensive school grounds and local area at every opportunity as being outside provides real situations in which geographical skills are seen to be necessary and relevant. Through this work, our children are encouraged to work together, share ideas and listen to the opinions of others. They grow in confidence and self-belief as they try new things and their learning excels as they are fully engaged in the learning process and are motivated to learn.

Implementation

Our implementation of the Geography curriculum centres around three key principles: breadth, balance, and progression. Our Geography curriculum is carefully sequenced using the National Curriculum and Early Years Framework. This is supported by the fantastic KAPOW primary scheme.

The children’s geographical education starts in the EYFS through the 'Understanding the World' strand. As we progress into Key Stage One and Key Stage Two, our Geography curriculum comprises of substantive knowledge, which sets out the content that is to be learned, and we address this through four interrelated strands:

•          Human and Physical Geography
•          Locational Knowledge
•          Place Knowledge
•          Geographical skills and Fieldwork

In our Geography curriculum, disciplinary knowledge considers how geographical knowledge originates and is revised. It is through disciplinary knowledge that our children learn the practices of geographers. Disciplinary concepts are: map skills, fieldwork, identification of similarities and differences, research and enquiry, cause and consequence.

As children progress through school, they will revisit each of the geographic strands, allowing them to build progressively on prior knowledge and deepen their understanding of the substantive and disciplinary knowledge. Cross-curricular links are included throughout each unit, allowing children to make connections and apply their Geography skills to other areas of learning.

Geography is taught every half term with three different units being taught in every year group over the course of an academic year.  As part of our extra-curricular offer, Geography learning from the classroom is extended to our clubs.  

Enquiry questions form a key part of our units, meaning that our children gain a solid understanding of geographical knowledge and skills by applying them to answer enquiry questions. These questions are open-ended with no preconceived answers and therefore they are genuinely purposeful and engage children in generating a real change.

Fieldwork includes smaller opportunities on the school grounds to larger-scale visits to investigate physical and human features. Developing fieldwork skills within the school environment and revisiting them in multiple units enables pupils to consolidate their understanding of various methods. It also gives children the confidence to evaluate methodologies without always having to leave the school grounds and do so within the confines of a familiar place. This makes fieldwork regular and accessible while giving children a thorough understanding of their locality, providing a solid foundation when comparing it with other places.

At Lea, our Geography Lessons incorporate various teaching strategies from independent tasks to paired and group work, including practical hands-on, computer-based and collaborative tasks. This variety means that lessons are engaging and appeal to all children.