At Willow Primary School, we want to inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people. In our Geography Curriculum we seek to build upon the children’s interests and equip pupils with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources and environments. The children’s growing knowledge about the world helps develop a deep understanding of how human and physical processes are linked, including the formation and use of different landscapes and environments through studying a range of places. Children study the four areas of geography; locational and place knowledge, human and physical processes and fieldwork skills. It is this knowledge and skills that is developed through the curriculum so that children understand and can explain how the Earth’s features are shaped, interconnected and change over time.
Geographical learning involves familiar places to the children and their local area, extending to the UK and Worldwide.
We want our children to enjoy and love learning about Geography by gaining knowledge and skills, not just through learning in the classroom, but also with the use of first hand experiences and educational visits. A key message at Willow Primary School is the importance of looking after the environment and the cause and effect of human behaviour. We strive to teach children the responsibilities they have as part of a community and the impact they can have on the wider world.
In addition to these topics, each year group completes a Heritage and Community topic linked to our local area and community and the children’s own heritage.
SUBSTANTIVE KNOWLEDGE - Geographical knowledge is taught explicitly in geography lessons so that children know more, remember more and can do more. Substantive knowledge sets out the content that is to be learned. By following the National Curriculum, we address this through four interrelated forms:
locational knowledge
place knowledge
human and physical processes (or environmental)
geographical skills
DISCIPLINARY KNOWLEDGE – this is considering how geographical knowledge originates. It is through disciplinary knowledge and using geographical skills and fieldwork which enables the pupils to apply their knowledge and “think like a geographer”.
VOCABULARY -explicit teaching of vocabulary is central to pupil’s ability to connect new knowledge with prior learning. Teaching identifies
Tier 2 words, high frequency words used across content e.g. locate, and
Tier 3 words, specific to subject domains e.g. biome