Geography

Intent

At Rushey Green, our vision is to be a centre of excellence, where all children develop the skills to become fully participating citizens and able thinkers, instilled with a lifelong love for learning, prepared for tomorrow’s world. We believe that the teaching and learning of Geography plays a vital role in fulfilling our vision.

The geography curriculum at Rushey Green enables children to develop knowledge and skills that are transferable to other curriculum areas and which can and are used to promote their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Our core learning values are:

Integrity
Ambition
Well-being
Perseverance
Curiosity
Collaborate

These values underpin and drive the Geography curriculum at Rushey Green.

We believe that Geography helps to provoke and provide answers to questions about the natural and human aspects of the world. Our children are encouraged to develop a greater understanding and knowledge of the world, as well as their place in it. Being a culturally diverse school, with our families coming from a wide range of countries, we use our own communities as our starting points and ensure that the curriculum reflects that diversity.
The curriculum is designed to ensure that teaching and learning develops pupils’ knowledge, skills and understanding about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes.
We seek to inspire in children a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people which will remain with them for the rest of their lives, equipping them well for further education and beyond.

Implementation

A guiding principle of Geography teaching and learning at Rushey Green, is that each topic draws upon prior learning. Themes are revisited throughout - from EYFS to Year 6, and the use of CUSP (Curriculum with Unity Schools Partnership) Thinking Hard strategies and quizzes, empower pupils to recall and subsequently apply previous learning. Pupils are making connections within their learning, which brings the learning alive for them.

The Geography curriculum, in association with CUSP, is based on a carefully planned sequence of learning, to equip the children to become ‘more expert’ with each topic. This ensures that the knowledge is cumulative and not fragmented. New content is always connected to prior learning.

Specific and associated geographical vocabulary is planned sequentially and cumulatively from EYFS to Year 6. Each topic has a specific vocabulary list, which is taught explicitly and with a multi-sensory approach, to ensure retention.

Alongside the subject knowledge and vocabulary, we ensure that common misconceptions are explicitly revealed as incorrect and accurate content is presented, to develop pupils’ understanding.

Through disciplinary knowledge, pupils are developing their skills as geographers in the following areas:

Place and space
Scale and connection
Physical and human geography
Environment and sustainability
Culture and diversity

Knowledge notes are a key feature of Geography at Rushey Green. These form a basis for the teaching sequence and are a visual means of identifying the big ideas and concepts within a topic. The knowledge notes are adaptable and facilitate both scaffolding and challenging pupils.

We support learning with trips to inspire our children and widen their
cultural experiences. Teachers are also encouraged to use a range of resources such as maps, videos, photographs and newspaper articles during lessons to help create immersive learning experiences.

Impact

Through carefully sequenced blocks of learning, which demonstrate clear progression, pupils will develop their geographical knowledge and skills to enable them to explore, navigate and and understand the local area and the wider world.
The impact of the Geography curriculum will be measured in a variety of ways:

questioning during lessons
quizzes
marking children’s written work
involvement in class discussions
pupil voice
class assemblies
monitoring learning through observations and book looks

From EYFS to Year 6, our pupils will develop a desire to learn about the world they live in and understand the impact humans have on that world, within the local area and globally. They will leave Rushey Green Primary School as responsible, fully participating citizens, prepared for tomorrow’s world.