Geography

Geography

"Education is a human right with immense power to transform." Kofi Annan

"Be the change that you wish to see in the world." Mahatma Gandi

Intent- Why do we teach Geography?

Many people immediately think of maps when they hear the word ‘Geography’, however, as a subject, Geography is so much more than that. Geography is the study of places, landscapes, environments and people - and how they have affected each other over time to become what it is today. It combines natural sciences (physical geography) and social sciences (human geography).

We teach Geography as it develops a better world view – it helps the children to gain an appreciation for the world that goes beyond the borders that they live within and develops their understanding that they are part of a global community.

We want to

• Inspire in our children a  curiosity and fascination about the world they live in
• Develop an understanding of place within space
• Develop an appreciation that the world goes beyond their border, that they are part of a global community
• Encourage our children to reflect on our key question weaving through our geography curriculum—’How can we improve the quality of people’s lives?’

“The study of geography is about more than just memorising places on a map. It’s about understanding the complexity of our world, appreciating the complexity of our world, appreciating the diversity of cultures that exists across continents. And in the end, it’s about using all that knowledge to help build bridges and bring people together.” Barack Obama

Implementation- What do we teach?

The skills of Geography are taught to our pupils in a thematic manner. Key facts are identified and these underpin the learning journey and are identified on our Knowledge Organisers. The knowledge and understanding of these are taught in a range of ways to capture the children’s imagination; written work, research, application of skills and enrichment opportunities.

We have two common themes weaving through all our units—the focus on climate change and the development of key geographical skills.

Content of learning in Geography:

From Year 1 upwards, each year group focuses on a specific continent and looks at different regions within those continents. This allows a more focused case study rather than a broad overview.

N: The seaside and caring for our environment. 

R: The Caribbean, comparing our local area. 

Y1: Europe: Our local area, country and our country as part of Europe

Y2: South America: The Amazon Basin, The Isles of Scilly and Mapping skills.

Y3: Oceania: Oceania, Naples and Campania

Y4: North America and Asia: California and Chembakolli, India.

Y5: Africa: Serrekunda, Gambia, Climate Change and scarce resources.

Y6: Antarctica and Europe revisited: Changing landscapes, Be Geography Ready (KS3)

Impact- Expectation of Geography 

We want our children to leave Downsview with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth's key physical and human processes. We want to educate our children to know how to improve their life chances and the quality of people's lives. 

Our bespoke knowledge organisers set out what we want the children to know by the end of the topic.  We expect the majority of children to be able to recall many, if not all, of the key facts. At the end of each unit we use a 'pop quiz' to assess the children's knowledge and understanding in relation to the content of learning.