Geography

At The Bedonwell Federation we believe that geography stimulates curiosity and imagination and we aim to build upon the pupil's "personal geography" by developing geographical skills and knowledge through studying places and themes. We provide a high-quality geography education that inspires pupil’s curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives.

At The Bedonwell Federation, geography is a valued part of the curriculum as it provides a means of exploring, appreciating and understanding the world in which we live and how it has evolved. Geography explores the relationship between the Earth and its people, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes, and of the formation and use of landscapes and environments. We believe in our pupils having a good geographical knowledge, understanding and skills that provide the frameworks and approaches that explain how the Earth’s features at different scales are shaped, interconnected and change over time.

Intent

To make sense of their own surroundings through learning about their own locality, and the interaction between people and environment.
To extend their interest, knowledge and understanding of contrasting localities in Britain, Europe and the World.
To develop knowledge and understanding of the human and physical processes which shape places.
To appreciate similarity and difference in the world around them and to respect other people’s beliefs, attitudes and values.
To develop the geographical skills and vocabulary necessary to carry out effective geographical enquiry.
To formulate appropriate questions, develop research skills and evaluate material to inform opinions.
To develop interest and enjoyment of geographical experiences and build confidence and understanding.
To recognise and understand issues concerning the environment and sustainable development.

Implementation

Geography explores the relationship between the Earth and its people through the study of the physical and human features of Earth, the influence of the environment on human behaviour and lifestyles and the natural resources people use. At the Bedonwell Federation, geography involves:

Undertaking fieldwork in the local area and places further afield in the UK.
Comparing and contrasting land-forms, land uses, weather, seasons and ecosystems.
The use of secondary sources to obtain geographical information, e.g. photos, books, videos.
Following directions using positional and directional language, also using these to direct others.
Expressing and evaluating views on the attractive and unattractive features of the environment, e.g. tidiness, noise, building on greenbelt land.
Naming the physical features of places, e.g. mountain, sea, beach, factory, valley.
Using developing language to talk about their work e.g. route, scale, tide, erosion, climate, temperate, continent.
Developing geographical skills of making observations and measuring, recording observations through maps, talk, and writing, taking photographs, sketches and diagrams.
Using maps, globes, atlases and interpreting photographs.
Help the children appreciate the variety of responses to the same basic needs (ethnic, cultural and economic) and to imagine what it might be like to experience life in other places.

We have carefully considered chronology in our geography planning that builds progressively on pupils’ knowledge and skills from Nursery to Year 6. We use the National Curriculum as a basis for our planning and personalise and extend it to suit our specific context.The topics planned in geography are aimed so that each unit of work in the various year groups build upon prior learning.

Geography is mainly taught as a separate subject or sometimes through cross-curricular lessons, where this is appropriate. The work develops a range of study skills, allowing children to take control of their own learning. Thus, information handling skills including the use of a wide range of source materials are explicitly taught; resources are made readily available and accessible; pupils are encouraged to communicate their finding to others using a variety of methods including written or verbal reports, use of graphs or pictures and ICT.

Each lesson has a clear learning intention to help pupils to achieve good results. A variety of teaching and learning styles are used in our geography lessons. Pupils work in a range of groupings, independently and alongside others, including working with visitors to the school. We believe in whole class interactive teaching methods and we combine these with enquiry and thinking skills-based research activities. We encourage all pupils to ask, as well as answer, geographical questions.

We offer pupils the opportunity to use a variety of data, such as maps, statistics, graphs, pictures, video and aerial photographs, and we enable them to use ICT in geography lessons where this serves to enhance their learning. At the Bedonwell Federation, pupils take part in role-play and discussions and then present reports to the rest of the class. Pupils learn about other places through reading stories with settings in different places and in different landscapes. They make outside visits. They engage in a wide variety of problem-solving activities. Wherever possible, we involve the children in ‘real’ geographical activities, e.g. the research of a local environmental problem.

Impact

At The Bedonwell Federation, we assess the children’s work in geography by making informal judgements as we observe the pupils during lessons. Once the pupils complete a unit of work, we make a summary judgement of the work for pupils and consider whether they have yet to obtain, obtained or exceeded the expectations of the unit. Class teachers keep the pupil’s geography work in geography books. We record assessments and use these to plan future work.

Staff in the EYFS assess children’s progress against the Development Matters (DM) statements for each of the 7 areas. At the end of the Reception year, teachers assess pupils against the Early Learning Goals and complete the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile (EYFSP).

The Profile provides parents and carers, practitioners and teachers with a well- rounded picture of a child’s knowledge, understanding and abilities, their attainment against expected levels, and their readiness for year 1. Year 1 teachers are provided with a copy of the profile report to inform their transition into Key Stage 1.