-Primary-School.png "Powell's School Church of England (VA) Primary School")
Powell's School
Geography - Subject lead Emily Thomas
Geography at Powell's
At Powell’s the study of geography involves our pupils exploring the relationship and interactions between people and the environments in which they live and upon which they and all life on Earth depends. Many of the pupils who now attend our school will live to see the next century and inhabit a world of 11 billion people. The many opportunities and challenges that will arise during their lifetime will be very much about geography at personal, national and global scales. What we intend pupils to learn in geography reflects this throughout the curriculum.
At Powell’s, Geography not only follows the National Curriculum requirements, but it also provides life skills and rich experiences beyond this. We believe that children are naturally curious and encourage them to ask questions about their learning, the world around them, and the people who inhabit different places. To achieve this, we ensure that the children’s learning develops their contextual knowledge as well as geographical skills. We achieve this by following the Collins Primary Connected Geography Scheme. All our topics have an overarching question to inspire the children, and provide a rich and stimulating curriculum for all children. We ensure that there is continuity and progression in terms of subject knowledge, skills application and the development of appropriate attitudes and values. The children are also encouraged to make links to other topics for example religion, culture and beliefs. Making links helps the children gain a better sense of the world around them.
At Powell’s we have established a school curriculum plan for geography as an entitlement for all pupils that is:
Ambitious: Ambitious in terms of instilling in our pupils a desire to achieve the highest levels of success We do this through providing them with the opportunities to build their substantive and disciplinary knowledge, master and apply subject skills and techniques and acquire the specialist language and technical terms to communicate their understanding effectively.
Coherent: Coherent, relevant, broad and balanced in terms of the areas of subject content we have selected which reflect the guidance of and are commensurate with the demands of the National Curriculum. For example, we have ensured that the content includes an even proportion of physical and human investigations such as the effect of rivers on the landscape and the impact of the rise of megacities in the world. Due consideration has been given also to making certain that our geography curriculum maintains relevancy and topicality through including enquiries that engage pupils in studying issues such as climate change, and flooding.
Sequenced: Sequenced to ensure that pupils can build on previous knowledge and understanding as they tackle more complex and demanding enquiries. For example, at Key Stage 1 pupils observe and record the distinctive geographical features of the local area of the school and compare and contrast them with a similarly sized area around Brunei. At Key Stage 2 this knowledge and understanding is both consolidated and extended as pupils investigate the nature of environmental change and reach judgements as to the cost and benefits such change brings. Similarly, the understanding gained and concepts explored through an enquiry on sustainability at Lower Key Stage 2 are revisited and extended when the pupils study Fairtrade at Upper Key Stage 2.
Progressive: Progressively more challenging from EYFS through to Year 6 both in terms of the complexity of the subject knowledge we want our pupils to acquire and also the critical thinking skills we support them to utilise to ensure they understand the significance of that knowledge. In terms of the geographical techniques, we want our pupils to master as they progress through the school, our curriculum planning has been informed by our identification of the coverage required at EYFS/ Key Stage 1, Lower Key Stage 2 and Upper Key Stage 2. These are integrated into our termly enquiries to ensure adequate coverage through the curriculum.
In addition to providing the essential knowledge and understanding the children need to be successful, our curriculum is enhanced with experiences and interactions with the ‘awe and wonder’ of the world, especially through regular field work in contrasting environments. All children have access to outdoor learning in geography, using our school grounds and the local area, as well as trips further afield and as part of some of our residential trips.
Curriculum Information for Parents
Intent, Implementation and Impact
Geography Knowledge and Skills Progression
Provision for SEND in Geography
Progression of Mapping and Fieldwork Skills EYFS to Year 6
Geography Quality Mark Award information
