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