Geography

GEOGRAPHY

at Alwoodley Primary School

Intent, Implementation and Impact

Geography is challenging, motivating, topical and fun. In our diverse society, children need, more than ever before, to understand other people and cultures. Geography makes a major contribution to children's physical, intellectual, social and emotional development. In short, geography matters.

INTENT

In school our wider intent is to make learning meaningful and memorable. In terms of our geography curriculum we have worked hard to design our own curriculum that will engender the excitement, creativity and critical thinking about the world that will equip young people to make their own way in it. Geography at Alwoodley Primary 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 developing a strong sense of place.

We want to evoke curiosity about the world and its people, promoting questions that children are enthusiastic to answer. We want children to be able to articulate their own views on world matters, to be informed and environmentally conscious. We are focused on building cultural capital through experiences and developing geographical skills. We are focused on the children developing a greater understanding of the wider world through sharing experiences and learning from one another. We want to equip pupils with the knowledge about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deeper understanding of physical and human themes. We want to inspire children to think about their own place in the world, their values, and their rights and responsibilities to other people and the environment.

Our intent is that the golden threads of Alwoodley are woven through the curriculum and that over time these will provide our geographers with the experiences and skills that will enable them to deploy their geographical knowledge in the next stages of their education. Golden thread one – cognitive education will be promoted so that children can reflect, analyse and problem solve. Golden thread two – a love of reading will be evident as pupils gain fluency in reading a range of geographical texts. Finally, We want the children to appreciate and respect the wonderful world and encourage stewardship of their surroundings - this supports our third golden thread.

IMPLEMENTATION
At Alwoodley Primary, our geography curriculum follows the National Curriculum and provides children with an array of enriching opportunities, with a strong focus on outdoor learning. Our children experience a wide range of school trips, including our new residential trip to Malham and a number of local area visits to develop the children’s awareness of their locality. In lessons, children develop their geographical enquiry skills though exploring physical environments, human interactions and how the two areas intertwine with each other.

IMPACT
We use a range of strategies to assess what skills and knowledge the children have attained each term including the following:

Book looks
Use of super six
Pupil Voice
Regular feedback each lesson
A well maintained benchmarking folder.

Primary Geography Magazine- we are so proud that we have articles published that share our outstanding provision and expertise in school. To find these articles please look in The Primary Geography Magazine number 97 (Autumn 2018) article 1 on page 6,article 2 on page 20. Also number 105 (Summer 2021) page 8. To view these follow this link geography Hard copies are available in school if you would like to see these.