Earlham Primary School

Intent

Our aim is to inspire a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people within our children at Earlham Primary School because our children come to us with very little experience and cultural awareness of life outside of Forest Gate and the U.K alone. At Earlham, we believe that Geography unearths the interconnectedness of the world and that we are truly global citizens that rely on each other to sustain life. Our Geography teaching equips pupils with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with an understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes. This starts early on from Early Years where children explore the foundational geographical themes through the ‘Understanding of the World’ strand of the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum. As pupils progress, their growing knowledge about the world helps them to deepen their understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes.

Geography is taught in blocks throughout the academic year so that children can learn in depth.

At Earlham, our learning is sequenced as such that locational and place knowledge and understanding starts with the our school and its immediate environment in Reception, then expands to Forest Gate in Year 1, London in Year 2, the U.K. in Year 3 and then Europe in Year 4; in Years 5 & 6 pupils explore issues around human impact and our global environment;

During our Earlham Goes International project each year group studies a continent and one of its countries in depth, learning the countries, capital cities and key facts; explores art, food and language from that part of the world; and we celebrate our own global village with an international evening with our families. Further country studies are done in Year 3, who explore China and India, the world’s most populous nations.

Children’s geographical skills development and fieldwork starts from Reception with children observing their immediate surroundings and representing them using a range of materials, then in Year 1 and Year 2 children carry out simple observations and present data through tally charts and then in key stage 2, children begin to present data using a range of methods and devise their own fieldwork explorations.

Children are always recapping and deepening their geographical knowledge as teachers use geographical texts in reciprocal read sessions. The texts don’t have to match the year groups’ topics. They can be linked to units across year groups.

Children explore sustainability as part of their geographical and scientific learning, to learn how the natural world has evolved, and consider the impact of human activity on nature to understand how our choices can make a difference:           

Moreover, Teachers are given the knowledge and skills foundations they need to for each topic and that each unit in every year group builds upon previous learning instead of replacing it. Continuous support is given to staff across the school through instructional coaching sessions as well as on going CPD lead by the geography subject lead. For instance, staff have completed CPD on Fieldwork which developed and strengthened their understanding of what fieldwork is, how it is implemented and how it can be across all the units that we teach. They are also aware of how to apply theories such as Willingham’s Simple Model Memory (2009) into their Geography lessons to aid attention and recall and to prevent cognitive overload, leading to knowledge becoming more automatic.

Impact on pupils

By the end of EYFS, children will have developed the foundation of their location and place knowledge through understanding where they are within the school and where Earlham Primary School is located. Children will know what a map is and use simple positional language such as next to, left and right to describe features in their immediate environment.

At the end of key stage 1, children will understand the locational and place knowledge of Forest Gate and how it compares to a town in another non-European country. Children will understand that the world consists of 7 continents and 5 oceans and begin to appreciate their interconnectedness. Children will know that each continent has its own unique features and there are similarities and differences between the continents and the countries within them.

By the end of key stage 2, children will have further built upon their locational place knowledge on the U.K as they will be able to locate major mountains, hills and rivers, name key landmarks as well as name the seas and coastlines around the U.K.

In addition, will have extended their knowledge of places beyond Forest Gate and the U.K by the time they leave Earlham by exploring Europe, China and India in detail and appreciate the positive impact these countries have had on our lives in the U.K. Moreover, children will understand the interconnectedness of the world and appreciate the role of geography in their local community and wider society. Children will have discovered how closely human and physical geography relate through units such as China in Year 3, where children will learn about economic growth, exporting and land and Earning A Living in Year 4, where children discover that the growth of certain crops and natural resources depends on climate zones and this impacts how countries decide on how to best use their land. Furthermore, children will discover how natural resources are distributed around the globe.

Fieldwork

At the end of children’s time at Earlham, they will be able to question ideas, use effective analytical and presentation techniques and draw conclusions from findings. Children will be able to read and understand both digital and printed maps as well use Ordnance Survey maps. Children will be able to accurately read and interpret maps with their knowledge and skills in using four and six-figure grid references. Children will be able to analyse and interpret geographical data as well as present it using graphs, sketches and IT resources.