Intent
Geography enables children to develop an understanding of our world and their place in it. It inspires in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives.
“Tynings geographers are globe trotting explorers who are saving the planet.”
Geography at The Tynings
Geography is taught within our themed curriculum and can often be linked with global citizenship, history, science and maths. It sits within ‘Our place in the world’ aspect of our whole school curriculum intent. Geographical skills and knowledge are taught in a meaningful way creating stimulating topic lessons with curiosity being at the heart of our geography learning. Examples of some geography based themes are: Hot and Cold (Year 1), Explore the World (Year 2), Standing Strong (Year 3), Extreme Weather/Survival (Year 4) and Blue Planet (Year 6).
Activities are sequenced to ensure progression, continuity and subject coverage across the whole school. The teaching sequence focuses on local, regional, national and international geography. Each year group covers the four main strands of geography which are:
Locational knowledge
Place knowledge
Human and Physical geography
Geographical skills and fieldwork
In geography lessons pupils will have the opportunity to:
- undertake map work
- take part in field work, covering aspects of physical and human environments
- learn from places of geographical interest
- learn from formal presentations
- reading (descriptions, summaries)
- make use of photographs, video clips and the internet
- record their findings in a variety of ways
- handle and interpret data
- take part in role play, educational games or simulations
- use information technology
- engage in a variety of practical activities
A key vocabulary list for geography has been created for each year group so the Tynings’ pupils can progressively learn to talk like geography experts as they go up through the school.
Assessment in Geography
At the start of every topic, children and teachers complete a title page together. This allows teachers to discover what children’s prior knowledge is and then can plan accordingly. The children also have the opportunity to share questions they have about the topic which can then be incorporated into the learning. At the end of the topic, the children can then record what they have learnt on this sheet, and this provides evidence of their learning.