Pittington Primary School

Geography Curriculum Intent

Our Geography Lead is: Mrs Roberts

Our Geography Link Governor is: Mrs Sutherland

Curriculum intent

At Pittington Primary we shape our geography curriculum to ensure it is fully inclusive to every child including children with special educational needs, disadvantaged and gifted and talented. Our aims are to fulfil the requirements of the National Curriculum for Geography; providing a broad and balanced curriculum; ensuring the progressive development of geographical concepts, knowledge and skills; and for the children to develop a love for geography. At Pittington Primary, we aim for a high quality geography curriculum which inspires in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people. Our teaching equips pupils with knowledge about places and people; resources in the environment; physical and human processes; formation and use of landscapes. We want children to develop geographical skills: collecting and analysing data; using maps, globes, aerial photographs and digital mapping to name and identify countries, continents and oceans; and communicating information in a variety of ways. We want children to enjoy and love learning about geography by gaining this knowledge and skills, not just through experiences in the classroom, but also with the use of fieldwork and educational visits taking advantage of the local surroundings as well as further afield.

Implementation

In ensuring high standards of teaching and learning in geography, we implement a curriculum that is progressive throughout the whole school. Geography is taught for 36 hours each year, focusing on knowledge and skills stated in the National Curriculum. We follow the national curriculum and have carefully mapped the progression of skills and knowledge, taking great care to take advantage of the rich geography in our local region, to build upon existing knowledge and understanding. This develops a ‘web’ of understanding, ensuring the children know more. At Pittington Primary, we ensure that geography has a high profile in school and the subject leader plans a whole school event each year to help maintain this. The subject leader monitors teaching and learning through looking at work in books to ensure curriculum coverage, talking to children to check they can say what they know and what they are learning and through drop-ins to observe teaching.

Impact

The impact and measure of this is to ensure that children at Pittington Primary are equipped with geographical skills and knowledge that will enable them to be ready for the curriculum at Key Stage 3 and for life as an adult in the wider world. Children will have been taught to:

Locate the world’s countries, using maps to focus on Europe (including the location of Russia) and North and South America, concentrating on their environmental regions, key physical and human characteristics, countries, and major cities. Name and locate counties and cities of the United Kingdom, geographical regions and their identifying human and physical characteristics, key topographical features (including hills, mountains, coasts and rivers), and land-use patterns; and understand how some of these aspects have changed over time. They will be able to identify the position and significance of latitude, longitude, Equator, Northern Hemisphere, Southern Hemisphere, the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, Arctic and Antarctic Circle, the Prime/Greenwich Meridian and time zones (including day and night)

Children will understand geographical similarities and differences through the study of human and physical geography of a region of the United Kingdom, a region in a European country, and a region within North or South America

Pupils will be able to describe and understand key aspects of physical geography, including: climate zones, biomes and vegetation belts, rivers, mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes, and the water cycle and human geography, including: types of settlement and land use, economic activity including trade links, and the distribution of natural resources including energy, food, minerals and water

Children will have had experience of using maps, atlases, globes and digital/computer mapping to locate countries and describe features studied. They will have used the eight points of a compass, four and six-figure grid references, symbols and key (including the use of Ordnance Survey maps) to build their knowledge of the United Kingdom and the wider world

Children will have used fieldwork to observe, measure, record and present the human and physical features in the local area using a range of methods, including sketch maps, plans and graphs, and digital technologies.

We want the children to have thoroughly enjoyed learning about geography, therefore encouraging them to undertake new life experiences now and in the future.

Equality

Pittington Primary School is committed to giving all of our pupils every equal opportunity in all aspects of school life.  Our aim is to offer an inclusive curriculum that is relevant and adapted to the needs and abilities of all pupils.  We ensure inclusive opportunities for raising self-esteem and celebrating success so that all learners can reach their true full potential.

At Pittington Primary School we are committed to ensuring equality of opportunity for all pupils, staff, parents and carers irrespective of race, religion, gender, disability, belief, sexual orientation, age or socio-economic background.  We provide an environment which enables every pupil to feel safe, encourages good health and wellbeing, and promotes relationships that are trustful and respectful.  We believe that every teacher is a teacher of all children including those with Special Educational Needs or Disabilities (SEND) and it is our duty to value each individual child to enable them to enjoy learning through an inclusive curriculum.  It is our aim to continue to develop a culture of inclusion and diversity in which all those connected to the school feel proud of their identity, where all children have the ability to participate fully in school life, and where children are confident learners both for now and for their futures. 

We tackle any type of discriminatory behaviour or prejudice through the positive promotion of equality, by challenging bullying and stereotypes and by creating an environment which champions respect for all.  We provide all our pupils with the opportunity to succeed and to reach the highest level of personal achievement. We work in partnership with parents, carers, staff, governors and local services within our community to prepare children from Pittington Primary School for life in a diverse society.  We believe that diversity is a strength, which should be reflected and celebrated by all who learn, teach and visit Pittington Primary School.

Fundamental British Values

British Values is defined by the Department for Education as:

• Respect for democracy and support or participation in the democratic process
• Respect for the basis on which the law is made and applies to England
• Support for equality of opportunity for all
• Support and respect for the liberties of all within the law
• Respect for and tolerance of difference faiths and religious and other beliefs

At Pittington Primary School, we ensure that the fundamental British Values are introduced, discussed and permeate the ethos and work of the school. The curriculum provides a vehicle for furthering and deepening an understanding of these concepts.

We actively encourage the children at our school to be unique, creative, independent and open-minded individuals who respect themselves and others in our school, the local community and across the wider world.

Our aim is to nurture our children on their journey through primary school so that they can grow into caring, democratic, responsible and tolerant adults who can, and will make, a positive difference to society across Britain and the world.