Geography at christopher hatton

Intent

Our aim is for all pupils to be informed, articulate and empowered:

In Geography this means children are engaged and inspired by a well-designed sequential curriculum to be curious and interested to explore the world that we live in. Geography is highly valued as part of our rich curriculum and equips children with the geographical skills they need to develop their knowledge through studying places, people and natural and human environments and to acquire the knowledge and understanding of the world and their place in it.

Informed

Children learn about diverse places, people, resources and the natural and human environments
Children learn about the processes that give rise to the key human and geographical features of the world and how these are interdependent and can change over time.
Children learn the geographical skills needed to undertake an enquiry, use a range of sources including the experience of fieldwork, in order to communicate geographical information in a range of ways

Articulate

Through the teaching of subject specific technical vocabulary and opportunities for focussed talk during lessons, children develop their ability to speculate, make connection and interpret evidence to develop their understanding about the world and its people.

Empowered

Contrasting localities are chosen to reflect the diversity of our community enabling pupils to see themselves within the geography curriculum.
Resources and materials are selected to challenge stereotypical images of places.
The focus on having a growth mind-set is essential in the teaching of geography: empowering children with the confidence to have a go, to learn from mistakes and to keep trying and improving.
Children explore geography within contexts that connect with their own lives e.g. local area, River Thames visit.
A whole school topic based on the Sustainable Development Goals engages pupils in issues that will impact on their future e.g. air pollution and climate change, deforestation within Brazil topic, plastic pollution within rivers topics. Through opportunities to voice their views in our annual Earth Summit and take strategic actions such as campaigning to ban plastic straws or introduce more meat free dishes in school, children are empowered and see themselves as active change-makers.
Fieldwork is an essential part of geography, visits within the local area support children to value their neighbourhood and understand the impact they can have. Children have been actively involved in contributing to improvements such as designs for school spaces and a local pocket park. On a wider scale, visits to other parts of the country enable our children to develop a sense of place and belonging and that they are empowered to make improvements to their environment.
A sense of curiosity and fascination about the world is essential to fully engaging in a rich cultural life.
All children including those who have SEND or are disadvantaged are supported to fully access the art curriculum. This may include additional adult support or use of visuals or Widget symbols for instructions. Structured sentence stems and taught vocabulary scaffolds children in discussion.

Implementation

The Geography scheme of work, developed by staff across all key stages, lays out the sequential steps to be taught so that new knowledge and skills build on what has been taught before and pupils can work towards clearly defined high quality outcomes.
Geography is taught within topics, with lessons sometimes blocked to allow immersion in the process.
Each strand of Geography (locational knowledge, place knowledge, Human and physical geography, Geographical Skills and field work) is covered and revisited so that pupils retain and build upon prior learning.
Opportunities for fieldwork are built in to topics wherever possible. Residential school journeys outside of London provide the opportunity for developing mapping skills, using compasses and grid references. These visits also provide first hand experiences of different types of settlements as well as physical landscape features such as fields and mountains.
Links with the history scheme of work enable pupils to revisit and embed key knowledge within a different context e.g. volcanoes- Ancient Rome, rivers- Ancient Egypt.
Environmental impact of human/physical geography is taught within key units.
The geography lead supports teachers and monitors standards by reviewing planning of units, talking to children with their books and observing lessons.

Impact

Children at Christopher Hatton can express informed opinions, make connections and have a developing knowledge of the world around them.
Children understand their impact on their locality and the wider world and are inspired to live a sustainable, environmentally friendly life.
Children have developed the geographical knowledge and skills to help them explore, navigate and understand the world around them and their place in it.
Click here to see Geography scheme of work

Click here to see progression in Geography across the school