Geography : Dereham Church Of England Infant and Nursery Academy

Geography Intent Statement

Our intent at DCINS is to inspire children’s curiosity, interest and appreciation for the world and its people. Through our rich and balanced curriculum, we aim to equip children to be ‘Global Citizens’: to develop a greater knowledge and understanding of the world, its interconnectedness and their place in it. Geography is, by nature, an investigative subject. Through our teaching, we intend to provoke thought, questions, and encourage children to discover answers to their own questions through exploration and research, including fieldwork. The curriculum is designed to promote children’s knowledge and understanding of diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments. We appreciate the significance of language and literacy in the development of geographical thinking, and children are taught the subject-specific language they need to describe, question and discuss the world around them. Our curriculum carefully considers the skills and knowledge children to continue their education into Year 3 and the next stages of their learning. Our intention is that Geography helps to provoke and provide answers about the world, and that children develop understanding of the importance of looking after the world, and their role in it.

Implementation

At DCINS, we alternate Geography and History learning each half-term, ensuring that our children receive a well- rounded teaching of the humanities subjects throughout the year. Teachers have identified the key knowledge and skills within each area of Geography and have created a progression map, which sets out the objectives taught in each year group. Existing knowledge is checked at the beginning of each topic, which ensures that teaching is informed by the children’s starting points.

Each individual lesson is differentiated to ensure all children are appropriately challenged, and are able to develop independence and confidence in their geography learning. Teachers use a variety of teaching and learning strategies, and resources, to meet the needs of their learners, and make lessons exciting and engaging. Geography is monitored through regular book looks, lesson observations and pupil interviews.

Our whole school speech and language focus underpins our vocabulary- rich Geography curriculum. Teachers use questioning and provide opportunities for discussion and investigation to support the development of vocabulary, which is explicitly taught and modelled by teachers. Children are also encouraged to present knowledge to their peers, a class, or the whole school, for example, following a fieldwork study.

The development of Geographical skills underpins all teaching and learning in our Geography curriculum. Children use maps, atlases and globes to locate areas in the world, and conduct fieldwork to learn about their local area and their school. This year, we enjoyed partaking in National Fieldwork Fortnight, and intend to continue to in the coming years.

In the Early Years, geography is taught under the Specific Area, ‘Understanding the World.’ Children are encouraged to ask their own questions about the world and find out their own answers- this is the first step to becoming a geographer. Children explore, observe and find out about people, places and the environment through exploring their school and local area. Children complete fieldwork studies both of their school and local area, through taking photos, observational drawings, and written notes, as examples. Children are also exposed to carefully- selected high-quality texts, which enable children to learn about the wider world and different cultures.

Impact

Our aim at DCINS is that children develop a fascination, curiosity and appreciation for the world and its people. Children will develop an understanding of not only how to care for the world, but the importance of this and its wider-implications. Children will understand their place in the world, and show an understanding and appreciation of other countries, cultures and communities. Children will be confident in using geographical skills to find out about the world, and will understand the role of geographers. The children will see themselves as geographers, and continue to develop a passion for and commitment to the subject with a real curiosity to find out more about the world, throughout the rest of their education and later life.