Intent

The intention of the Geography Curriculum at Hindley Junior and Infant Primary School is to inspire in children a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. We intend to equip children with geographical skills to develop their knowledge through studying places, people and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s human and physical forms and processes. Children will explore the global community beyond their locality, giving them knowledge of their local area, Great Britain and the world. The curriculum is designed to develop knowledge and skills that are progressive, as well as transferrable, not just whilst at Hindley Junior and Infant School but to children’s further education and beyond.

Implementation

In Reception, early geography skills are taught through the ‘Understanding the World – People, Culture and Communities’ area of learning. During the year the children have opportunities to describe their immediate environment and learn about similarities and differences between life in this country and life in other countries using knowledge from observations, discussions, books and maps through our themed approach.
In Key Stage One and Two, to ensure high standards in teaching and learning in Geography, we implement a curriculum that is progressive throughout the whole school. Each class from Y1-Y6 has three Geography topics which are covered over the year. Each year group builds upon and further develops prior knowledge, skills and understanding. Geography is taught as a stand-alone subject. Teachers create Learning Pathways for each topic using our Knowledge Organisers and our Geography Knowledge, Skills and Vocabulary document based upon the National Curriculum. This ensures coverage of and progression in the programmes of study requirements in Geography for KS1 and KS2:
• Locational knowledge
• Place knowledge
• Human and physical geography
• Geographical skills and fieldwork
The Learning Pathway is a cycle of lessons which are progressive and state the intended learning taking place as well as an overview of tasks the children will take part in. Teachers use the school grounds and local area for fieldwork to enable
children to base learning on first hand experiences before moving their learning to the wider world to enhance teaching and learning in Geography.

Impact

The intended impact is for the majority of children in each year group to be working at or above the expected standards for their age. In addition to this, we aim to achieve the following outcomes:
• Children will develop the geographical knowledge and skills to help them explore, navigate and understand the world around them and their place in it.
• We aspire for children to leave Hindley Junior and Infant School being able to discuss geographical issues and to be able to reflect and form their own opinions on matters such as climate change.
• The children will be inquisitive young learners and citizens who choose to understand global environmental issues and seek to make a personal difference in protecting and shaping the word we share.
• Children will retain prior learning and make clear connections between what they have previously studied and new knowledge. To track and measure the impact of Geography teaching, we use Insight, our online assessment tool that aligns directly with our curriculum. This allows teachers to instantly monitor how individual classes or year groups are performing against our curriculum targets, helping to identify and address any gaps in learning. In addition to Insight, the subject leader conducts informal learning walks and pupil interviews, alongside reviewing children’s work, to ensure that learning objectives are met and knowledge can be recalled when prompted. These assessments show that pupils are not only engaged and excited about Geography but also able to retain and apply what they’ve learned, demonstrating the effectiveness of our curriculum.