Geography

Click here to see the overview for Geography 2023-2025

Intent

At Broadfield, our aim is to provide opportunities for children to develop as confident, articulate and well-rounded children who can succeed as individuals and contribute to their community and the wider world. Our curriculum offers a range of experiences which contribute to every child receiving an engaging, balanced and broad curriculum which encompasses British values. Geography is an investigative subject, which develops an understanding of concepts, knowledge and skills. At Broadfield our intent, when teaching geography, is to inspire in children a curiosity and fascination about the world and people within it; to promote the children’s interest and understanding of diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes. We want children to be able to apply the skills and knowledge they gain during their time at Broadfield to every aspect of their life in our ever-changing world.

Implementation

Our geography curriculum offers high quality and well-planned lessons which ensure progression through each year group. Carefully planned lessons which include geographical questioning, help pupils to gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of the world in which they live and its people.  The teaching of geography at Broadfield will provide children with the cultural capital that they will need to succeed in their lives beyond primary education. Through trips, visits and discussions of current affairs, children will become engaged with the world around them, at a local, national and international level. We want our pupils to develop a sense of responsibility, as well as pride in their local community.  As children progress through school, skills will be built upon each year in order to develop a deeper understanding of the geography curriculum. Prior to starting new topics, children are encouraged to share their previous learning in this topic to ensure connections are made and increase the retention of key skills and knowledge.  Bespoke knowledge mats which offer ‘sticky facts’ and ‘key vocabulary’ are created and embedded in each topic ensuring that children’s understanding of geographical terminology, and use of the related vocabulary, is enhanced. Continuity and progression in the curriculum are built around essential knowledge, understanding and key skills within geography. These are broken into key stage expectations (over a two-year cycle) and have additional challenges for able learners and modifications to ensure all abilities can access the lessons. As geography provides excellent opportunities to support all learning abilities through investigations and outdoor learning, the local area is fully utilised. Meaningful fieldwork trips are planned as this is an essential ingredient of geography which provides a ‘real-world’ opportunity for children to develop and extend their geographical thinking and add value to classroom experiences. We are incredibly fortunate to have Alexandra Park close to our location and where possible this area is used to ensure the children get hands on with this amazing environment which includes a woodland, a lake and plenty of opportunities for map reading and creation. This ensures that extensive opportunities that geography lessons create, for learning outside the classroom, are embedded in practice.  Cross curricular links with maths, science, phse and literacy are carefully planned through our topic based curriculum. This encourages transferable skills and gives real-world meaning to geography whilst also increasing engagement.

Impact

By the time children leave Broadfield, they will have acquired an excellent knowledge of where places are and what they are like. They will have a deep understanding of the ways in which places are interdependent and interconnected and how much human and physical environments are interrelated.  They will have an extensive base of geographical knowledge and vocabulary and be fluent in geographical enquiry and the ability to apply questioning skills. They will have acquired the skills and techniques linked to fieldwork and have a passion for and commitment to the subject, and a real sense of curiosity to find out about their world and its people. Furthermore, they will have the ability to express well-balanced opinions, rooted in knowledge and understanding about current and contemporary issues in society and the environment.

To ensure the above, we review work in topic and literacy books to ensure that they evidence a broad and balanced geography curriculum and demonstrate children’s acquisition of identified key knowledge. We also gain their views about their learning and enjoyment of geography through pupil voice surveys and interviews. Staff meetings are planned to ensure the sharing of good practice across the topic-based curriculum and children’s work is displayed around the school to showcase high expectations, alongside encouraging a sense of pride in their work.

Pinnacle Learning Trust