Our Geography Curriculum
Intent
Children attending Kaizen Primary School often have very few experiences of life outside of their local area. At Kaizen, we believe that the teaching of geography should inspire pupils to have a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. As a result, geography is held in high regard at Kaizen School.
The ambition of the Interim Geography Curriculum is to continue to deliver the full breadth of the National Curriculum; streamlining the content for each unit so learning through the primary years is continuous. We have sought to develop units to do less, but ensure learning is deep for the learning objectives set out.
Early Years explore geographical themes and content through the ‘Understanding of the World’ strand of the EYFS curriculum. This involves guiding children to make sense of their physical world and their community through opportunities to explore, observe and find out about people, places, technology and the environment.
Implementation
Geography is taught in blocks throughout the year, so that children achieve depth in their learning. Teachers are given the key knowledge and skills of each topic and consideration has been given to ensure progression across topics throughout each year group across the school. Teachers plan lessons using the medium term plans created by the subject leader. Progression of knowledge and skills has been carefully mapped and Geography Leaders across the EKO trust have worked together to identify the core knowledge for each unit. This is to ensure a baseline of the fundamentals where a child or cohort may struggle to keep pace.
Where content has been streamlined, this is noted on the unit plan to inform future curriculum planning.
Our units of learning are sequenced to build on the children’s geographical knowledge starting with local and personal geography in Year 1, the wider locality in Year 2, and then moving to Europe and worldwide study in Key Stage 2. Topics are deliberately chosen to reflect the diversity of our schools’
Communities, and to prepare them to be responsible and engaged citizens of the complex world they will live in, for example through the units ’World on the Move’ and ‘Global Trade’.
In developing the units we have built on existing strong plans developed by schools in the EKO family, using units from the Royal Geographical Society and Geographical Association1 where possible. Standards of our newly developed units have been benchmarked against units from the Geographical Association.
Royal Geographical Society and Geographical Association
Consideration is given to how greater depth will be taught, learnt and demonstrated within each lesson, as well as how learners will be supported in line with the school’s commitment to inclusion. Outcomes of work are regularly monitored to ensure that they reflect a sound understanding of the key identified knowledge.
Fieldwork:
Pupils would ordinarily benefit from a wide range of fieldwork opportunities in a wide range of locations, some of which are difficult to provide in a Covid-safe context. Subject leaders have worked together to identify digital resources that can be used, and to adapt fieldwork to a more restricted environment. We recognise that pupils will need to catch up on aspects of fieldwork that cannot currently be taught; any missed opportunities are noted and will be planned into future learning.
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) follows the ‘Development Matters in the EYFS’ guidance which aims for all children in reception to have an ‘Understanding of the World; people and communities, the world and technology’ by the end of the academic year.
Impact
Outcomes in topic and English books evidence a broad and balanced geography curriculum and demonstrate the children’s acquisition of identified key knowledge. Children add learned knowledge to knowledge organisers at the end of each lesson. Teachers regularly use low stakes quizzes to ensure that the knowledge has been retained.
As children progress throughout the school, they develop a deep knowledge, understanding an appreciation of their local area and its place within the wider geographical context. Geographical understanding, as well as children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is further supported during residential visits in the UK and France.