Geography

Geography  at   
The Whartons Primary  
School
INTENT
At The Whartons it is our intent is to make learning meaningful and memorable and align to our whole school vision. In terms of geography we have design our curriculum to be exciting, creative and encourage critical thinking about the world and We plan to equip young people to make their own way in it. Geography at The Whartons extends far beyond the walls of the classroom. Our aim is to provide the children with a breadth of memorable experiences, to shape our pupils into curious and considerate global citizens. By the time our students leave us, they will be well equipped with the skills and the knowledge to explore the world around them and have a greater understanding of their planet.

We also intend for the children to develop an in-depth knowledge of our community and locality. We want the children to appreciate and respect the wonderful world and encourage stewardship of their surroundings.

 
IMPLEMENTATION
At The Whartons Primary, our geography curriculum follows the National Curriculum and Chris Quigley Essentials Curriculum. The children are provided with an array of enriching opportunities. In line with our curriculum driver of outdoor learning there is a strong focus on field work. Our children experience a wide range of school trips, including field trips to seaside towns on the Yorkshire coast, Bradford and Leeds city centres and the rocky outcrops at Brimham Rocks in North Yorkshire. The children also build their geographical skills through experience of a number of locaarea visits which develop the children’s awareness of their locality.
In lessons, children build substantive and disciplinary knowledge through the spiral approach of studying 'Big Ideas/Threshold concepts. They develop geographical enquiry skills though exploring physical environments, human interactions and sharing ideas on how these two areas intertwine with each other.
Using resources such as Odizzi and Google Earth the children can explore different places, people and cultures remotely, which supports learning in the physical environment.
IMPACT
We use a range of strategies to assess what skills and knowledge the children have attained each term including the following:
  • Book scrutinies
  • Low stakes Quizzes (ODDIZZI) 
  • Pupil Voice 
  • Regular feedback each lesson
  • End of unit double page spread to capture key elements learnt
  • Recap prior knowledge at the beginning of a new unit through pre assessment 'empty' knowledge organisers
 
Geography is the study of the earth’s places and the relationships between people and their environments.
 
When we study Geography - we should be thinking about two main questions:
 
What is it?
Why is it there?