Geography Intent

“Geography explains the past, illuminates the present and prepares us for our future. What could be more important than that?”

Michael Palin

At Wirksworth Junior School, Geography is an important part of our pupils’ entitlement to a broad and balanced curriculum, which follows the national curriculum guidance. Geography provides pupils with the opportunities to explore issues on a local, national and international level.

The main focus for our geography curriculum across the school is:

Curiosity and Exploration.

We will be encouraging the children to see how values such as fairness and togetherness can be nurtured within geography through issues such as fair-trade, sustainability and climate change. These values will make up key components within the children’s learning.

We also include another four key concepts of: achievement, community, change and sustainability are used to show the children how the past has shaped the world we live in and how our actions, no matter how small, will help shape the future.  These concepts are woven into the curriculum design across year groups and subjects to help the learning becoming embedded into the long-term memory.

It is our intention that the children will develop an inquisitive nature, asking questions about the world they live in and how their actions and the actions of others will affect the present and future. Within this project, pupils will have opportunities for:

* Starting projects by exploring issues. 

* Risk-taking and being safe.

* Being inquisitive- asking questions. 

* Using the outdoor space.

* Researching.

The content that has been decided upon will give leave to these aspirations and give the children the opportunity to hone and develop their research skills. Furthermore, the intention is that we optimise our outdoor spaces and provide experiential (fieldwork) opportunities that will enrich and supplement our knowledge and learning. 

To see our long term plan for geography please follow the link below to our Guerrilla Curriculum Long-Term Plan.

Implementation

To ensure that our pupils are able to learn and make significant links between curriculum areas, Geography has been linked together within the curiosity and exploration focus which makes up part of our Guerrilla curriculum.

Geography is taught alongside DT in one term, creating links and addressing similar concepts and values.

These are covered through the four big questions.

Lower Key Stage Two

• How have natural disasters led to change?
• Can small actions make a difference?

Upper Key Stage Two

• How might we live in the future?
• Do we appreciate what we have?

We have procedural and declarative skills and knowledge progression ladders across the school to ensure that pupils in geography are being taught progressively and build on their learning.  We have grouped our geographical skills into the following geographical areas.

• Locational Knowledge
• Place Knowledge
• Human Geography
• Physical Geography
• Geographical skills – maps, atlas, grid references and compass points.
• Geographical skills and field work

Reading is prioritised across the curriculum by linking our curriculum concepts and big questions to quality texts. Pupils and teachers are encouraged to make links, through display and reference to a timeline and world map in every classroom.

Knowledge organisers are used to support pupils to transfer this knowledge to long term memory.

Pupils learn about significant people from a diverse range of backgrounds and with a range of experiences, in order to inspire them and enrich their understanding of how we can make a difference to our world and future.