Whitechapel Church of England Primary

Our Geography curriculum is designed to develop children’s curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. Children investigate a range of places – both in Britain and abroad – to help develop their knowledge and understanding of the Earth’s physical and human processes. We provide children with opportunities to investigate and make enquiries about their local area of Cleckheaton so that they can develop of real sense of who they are, their heritage and what makes our local area unique and special. We also developing the children’s ability to apply geographical skills to enable them to confidently communicate their findings and geographical understanding to a range of audiences. Through high quality teaching, we develop essential characteristics of geographers.

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 a termly topic, focusing on knowledge and skills stated in the National Curriculum. Teachers plan lessons for their class using Rising Stars Geography as a basis. They use this document, along with knowledge organisers, to plan their geography lessons. In addition, teachers have a glossary for each unit so they know the geographical terms that all children must master and apply in lessons. During the year, Geography themed home learning tasks are set as part of each Year Group’s ‘Homework Bingo’  in which children investigate a geographical topic (e.g. Volcanoes) , often with an adult at home.

At Whitechapel Primary School we provide a variety of opportunities for geography learning inside and outside the classroom. The children explore the local area (including orienteering) within and outside of the school grounds and conduct studies in our large, varied outdoor spaces. Annual school trips also provide an opportunity to further geography learning, including the residential trips in Years 5 and 6.

Outcomes in Topic and Geography books, evidence a broad and balanced geography curriculum and demonstrate children’s acquisition of identified key knowledge relating to each of the identified national curriculum strands, as appropriate to key stage; locational knowledge, place knowledge and human and physical geography. This is in addition to the development and application of key skills, supported by fieldwork.
We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:

• Assessing children’s understanding of topic linked vocabulary before and after the unit is taught
• Pupil discussions about their learning
• Images and videos of the children’s practical learning
• A reflection on standards achieved against the planned outcomes
• Moderation staff meetings where pupil’s books are scrutinised and there is the opportunity for a dialogue between teachers
• Annual reporting of standards across the curriculum
• Marking of written work in books.