Geography

Fun facts about me: 

One of my favourite things to do is read. I like all genres but my favourite is thriller.

Another hobby of mine is pottery painting as I find it really relaxing and traveling the world. I have three kittens called Luna, Lottie and Lily who love to play.

My favourite subjects to teach are Geography and History and I love learning more about these subjects.

 

Subject vision: (The Intent)

From the beginning of their school life, at Cooper and Jordan we encourage children to ask questions about the physical and human world around them. We aim to ignite the curiosity and fascination of the world. Our teaching of geography provides children with the cultural capital they will need beyond primary school, through trips, visits and discussions of current affairs children become engaged with the world around them. We use an investigative approach where children are able to ask and answer their own questions to ignite a love of learning through finding their own interests. We want our children to feel a sense of community, and understand their responsibility in maintaining it. They have the opportunity to do this through the Rising Stars scheme of learning, which promotes children to learn geographical skills through enquiries. 

 

Curriculum: ( The implementation)

The geography curriculum follows the National curriculum programmes of study for key stage 1 and key stage 2. The national curriculum provides clear geographical skills and vocabulary that progresses through the years shown in the rising stars framework. We follow the Rising Stars geography progression as it allows us to introduce skills and knowledge through interesting and engaging topics which also link to our Rising Stars Science curriculum. Before teaching each unit, teachers will look at how the scheme can be adapted to meet the needs of the pupils in their class. Teaching will be adapted to stretch and challenge the learning of all children

Our geography curriculum covers all aspects of the National Curriculum. Areas of focus include:

• The UK and our local area 
• The world and continents 
• Physical themes 
• Human themes 
• Understanding places and connections 
• Map and atlas work 
• Fieldwork and investigation 

 

EYFS

Even though there is no Geography subject in the EYFS framework it is crucial that children’s geography journey begins in the early years. They look at understanding the world around them, through the world and people and communities. They talk about the features of their own immediate environment and how environments might vary from one another.

 

Key Stage One:

Children should leave key stage one with the knowledge of the major cities, oceans and continents on a UK and World map. They should be able to name the capital cities and locate them on a map of the UK. Children will have local awareness of their area, and know the climate in the area, as well as describing a natural local environment.  Children should be able to talk with confidence about human and physical environments. Children will begin to look into the wider world and name some of the wonders of the world.

 

Year 1 - Our Local Area, People and their Communities, Animals and their habitats

Year 2 - Seasons, Journeys (food), Our wonderful world

 

Key Stage Two:

Children should be able to name and locate some countries in Europe, North and South America. They should be able to relate continent, country state and city. To name the British rivers and describe a river and mountain environment. To compare the physical and human characteristics of some regions in North or South America. Children should be able to use simple geographical vocabulary. Children should be able to describe life in different settlements, climates and landscapes. To begin to explain how climate and vegetation are connected in biomes. To explore and investigate through fieldwork.

 

Year 3 - Climate and weather, our world, coasts

Year 4 - The Americas, Rivers and the water cycle, Earthquakes and volcanoes

Year 5 - Changes in our local environment, Europe (An alpine study)

Year 6 - South America (The Amazon), Global warming and climate change,  Our world in the future

 

Assessment (Impact):

Children will be assessed through formative and summative assessments throughout the year and through their learning in Geography. Children will be assessed on their progress in both skills and knowledge. At the end of each topic, children will do a short quiz on their knowledge from what they have learnt over the half term through the Rising Stars scheme. This will make their progress through their time at school easy to see and will help build their long term knowledge in Geography.

 

Trips and Enrichment:

Y1 - Leather Museum (Our Local area)

Afrikan Fusion - Cultural whole school worshop

 

Pupil voice: 

Liam said "It is really good finding out about different places!"

 

Jack said "Using maps has been really fun and I have found out where places are in the world that I didn't know about before."

 

Alice said "I enjoy finding out more about places from around the word and how they are different to life in Aldridge"

 

Hollie said "I like that I can learn about different cultures from around the world and we talk about more than just where a country is in the world."

 

Sophia said "We get to learn about countries that I didn’t know about and learning about rivers was really interesting because we got to speak to experts which was great."

 

Charlotte said "It is always really interesting learning about how different countries do the same things differently compared to others."