Geography at Wybourn Community Primary School 

Intent

At Wybourn Community Primary School we believe that Geography education should be fully inclusive to every child. Our aims are to encourage the natural curiosity that pupils have in the world around them. Through the teachings of Geography, we will allow our pupils to become fully engaged and active global citizens as they critically evaluate the world around them and their place in it.  Our Cornerstones approach provides children with the opportunity to seek answers to enquiry questions and develop their knowledge of diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes. We seek to give them a rich understanding of exploring and celebrating the difference and diversity in the global community.  

Implementation

Following our Cornerstones curriculum, all Geography projects at Wybourn Primary are taught in the autumn and spring terms, with opportunities to revisit less secure concepts in the summer term. A Geography topic becomes the driver unit for one term of the school year with a complimentary stand-alone, skills-based topic in each year group. These topics are then supported by cross-curricular links in Art, Design & Technology and History. The Geography projects are well sequenced to provide a coherent subject scheme that develops children’s geographical knowledge, skills and subject disciplines.

In the Foundation Stage, Geography is taught as an integral part of topic work and is embedded throughout the Cornerstones Curriculum. The objectives taught are mostly taken from the Understanding the World statements from ‘Development Matters in the EYFS’ and the PSED Early Learning Goals.

In KS1, children will:

• develop knowledge about the world, the United Kingdom and their locality.
• understand basic subject-specific vocabulary relating to human and physical geography
• begin to use geographical skills, including first-hand observation, to enhance their locational awareness.
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In KS2 children will:

• extend their knowledge and understanding beyond the local area to include the United Kingdom and Europe, North and South America.
• apply their knowledge of the characteristics of a range of the world’s most significant human and physical features.
• develop their use of geographical knowledge, understanding and skills to enhance their locational and place knowledge.

Impact

By the time children leave Wybourn Community Primary school, we want them to have developed a passion for Geography. They will have a secure locational knowledge, knowing how to describe the location of significant places. They will be able to consider the geographical features of an environment, recognising the interconnected nature of people and places. Our children will be able to conduct fieldwork and apply the skills of data collection, recording, analysis and presentation. The children at Wybourn will have a passion for and commitment to the subject, and a sense of curiosity to find out about the world and the people who live there. They will learn about contemporary issues within the world, and the role that they as individuals have in making a difference. Impact will be assessed through group as well as independent work. This assessment should show the development of geographical skills as well as the understanding of human and physical geography knowledge. Pupil voice will also give children the opportunity to impact the provision of Geography at Wybourn Primary.

What we teach in Geography