Geography
At Carpenters Primary School we believe that Geography education should inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people. It should equip pupils with knowledge 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 use a variety of teaching and learning styles in order to develop children’s knowledge, skills and understanding. The Geography programme of study is delivered through the schools ‘topic’ curriculum; whereby our pupils access all areas of the Geography National Curriculum through themed topics of study each term. We ensure that there are ample opportunities to revisit, consolidate and make links between previous units of study as the children progress through the school.
At Carpenters Primary School, we also understand the value of extended learning through educational trips, visits and experts visiting our school. We take yearly fieldwork visits to sites such as Lea Valley Park and welcome experts from organisations and charities such as the Thames Explorer Trust.
The aims of geography in our school are:
- To ensure that all pupils develop contextual knowledge of the location of globally significant places – both terrestrial and marine – including their defining physical and human characteristics and how these provide a geographical context for understanding the actions of processes.
- To ensure that all pupils understand the processes that give rise to key physical and human geographical features of the world, how these are interdependent and how they bring about spatial variation and change over time.
- To retain key geographical knowledge in the long term memory such as naming continents, oceans, capital cities and seas.
- To ensure all pupils are taught important geographical skills such as using maps, atlases, globes, using locational and directional language
- To ensure that all pupils are competent in the geographical skills needed to:
- Collect, analyse and communicate with a range of data gathered through experiences of fieldwork that deepen their understanding of geographical processes.
- Interpret a range of sources of geographical information, including maps, diagrams, globes and aerial photographs.
- Communicate geographical information in a variety of ways, including through maps, numerical and quantitative skills and writing at length.
Through the teaching of Geography, we also aim to:
Develop curiosity: Children are encouraged to make sense of the world around them which develops a curiosity in places and people.
Develop Linguistic and Vocabulary Development: Every geography lesson starts with the core geographical vocabulary which is taught, and consolidated throughout each unit.
Raising Aspirations through Rich Experiences: Every year, each year group will partake in at least one field trip/experience day/workshop.
Encouraging innovation and a creative, research-based mindset: Children are encouraged to explain why places are changing, how they are interconnected and why patterns of inequality exist at both local and global scales.
