Geography at Mount Street Primary School

At Mount Street Primary School, Geography is taught with the intent of building a strong geographical knowledge base for every pupil, which progresses from EYFS to Year 6. Drawing on the National Curriculum and the contextual needs of our school community, our curriculum enables children to develop a deep understanding of the world around them and their place within it.

Through the study of places, people and environments, pupils build their knowledge of local, national and global communities. As their understanding grows, children use geographical enquiry skills to question, investigate, compare and interpret a wide range of locations, environments and geographical issues. They explore how human and physical processes shape our planet and how people and places are interconnected.

We aim to nurture a love of Geography, inspire curiosity about the world and foster a sense of responsibility for the environment. By helping children to understand the relationships between people, places and the natural world, we equip them with the knowledge, skills and awareness needed to become informed, responsible and globally minded citizens who can positively contribute to an ever-changing world. 

Intent | What and why do we teach what we teach?

At Mount Street, our Geography curriculum intends to develop children’s knowledge, curiosity and fascination about the world and its people as well as their place within it. It offers a balanced view of the countries of the world, to address or even pre-empt misconceptions and negative stereotypes.  

It intends that all children are provided with relevant and coherent substantive knowledge, built progressively from EYFS to Year 6 and beyond alongside core disciplinary knowledge, the ability to approach challenging, geographically valid questions and opportunities to undertake fieldwork.

Our curriculum is carefully planned to develop both substantive knowledge and disciplinary knowledge. Substantive knowledge provides children with an understanding of places, environments and geographical processes, while disciplinary knowledge enables them to think, question, investigate and communicate like geographe

Within our geography curriculum, there are three key vertical concepts that build gradually and with increasing depth across the multiple contexts encountered by children as they move through our curriculum.  These 3 vertical concepts are: Space and Place, Physical Processes and Human Processes.

Space and Place
Children develop an understanding of where places are, how they are connected and what makes them unique. They explore concepts such as location, distance, identity, community, landscapes and diversity through studies of their local area, the UK and locations around the world.

Physical Processes
Children learn how natural processes shape the Earth and influence the lives of people. This includes the study of weather, climate, rivers, volcanoes, earthquakes, landscapes and environmental change, helping pupils understand the dynamic nature of our planet.

Human Processes
Children explore how people interact with and shape the world around them. They learn about population, settlements, trade, resources, migration, economic development and sustainability, developing an understanding of global connections and contemporary issues.

From EYFS, where children begin exploring their immediate environment and developing geographical vocabulary, learning progresses through KS1, where pupils study their local area, the UK and the wider world. In KS2, children deepen their understanding of Europe and beyond through the study of diverse countries, physical processes and global challenges such as climate change, resource use and migration. This progressive curriculum ensures that pupils leave Mount Street as knowledgeable, curious and informed geographers, ready for the next stage of their education.

Implementation | How and when do we teach what we teach?

At Mount Street, Geography is taught termly from EYFS (understanding the world) to Year 6 and the sequencing of our curriculum ensures that our children are taught to make meaningful links not only between contexts, but between subjects. The Geography curriculum is deliberately designed so that knowledge, concepts and skills are built upon progressively.

For every unit, teachers plan a sequence of lessons which purposefully build progression and depth. A knowledge organiser, outlining the knowledge (including vocabulary) that all children must learn and apply in lessons, enables teachers to plan with progression and continuity in mind. A graphic organiser, created at school level, is also used alongside the knowledge organiser to support children in embedding their knowledge into their long-term memory. Tiered vocabulary, which is progressive, is built into every unit. Strategies to reinforce the embedding of knowledge and vocabulary include dual coding and retrieval practice. At the start of each unit children are given opportunities to recall what they last learnt about the concepts they are about to be taught. Our children discuss the key concepts and big ideas covered in each lesson to allow them to make links in their learning, deepen their understanding and remember more. Oracy underpins all learning with opportunities to discuss, debate, share ideas and opinions planned in. Scaffolds are in place to support children or personalise the geography learning where necessary, e.g. dual coding, adapted tasks, adult support; encouraging children to consider their learning from different perspectives enables additional challenge.

Fieldwork opportunities enable the children to deepen their understanding of their locality, the world around them, their geographical vocabulary, geographical processes and the impact of human interaction with the physical environment.

The implementation of our geography curriculum not only reflects our broader teaching and learning principles, but at Mount Street, we ensure:

• Content is always carefully situated within existing schemas. For example, map skills cannot be covered in a single task, concepts of map skills are built on methodically and logically over time through careful planning. In early years pupils begin to identify features of their local area, in KS1 pupils apply directional vocabulary to features and by KS2 pupils use map symbols and grid references on OS maps to describe the location of features.

• Vertical concepts are used within lessons to connect aspects of learning. For example, when learning about migration, pupils will review natural hazards and types of settlement when looking at the reasons why people voluntarily or forcibly move from one place to another.

• Opportunities for extended writing appear throughout the curriculum and allow the children to write as a geographer. For example, in Year 3, after considering the hazards and benefits associated with volcanic activity and the ways in which humans can prepare for volcanic events, pupils write a discussion explaining why they would or would not live near a volcano.

• Opportunities to build our children’s cultural capital and their worldwide understanding of how geography shapes and impacts upon our world today. For example, Topical news from around the world is regularly incorporated into our class assembly and geographical days such as Earth Day, within our whole school assemblies.

Impact | How do we assess the impact of what we teach via pupil outcomes?

Our assessment framework informs about the impact of two main aspects of the Teaching and Learning process:

1.  The depth of a pupil's knowledge, understanding and ability to make links in learning.                         

2. The ability for pupils to apply procedural knowledge to skill-based activities.

Our Geography curriculum has been structured to enable children to know more, remember more and do more and is assessed against the Trivium continuum:

• To assess their knowledge throughout the sequence of learning we use tools such as pre-learning quizzes,  low stakes retrieval quizzes,  graphic organisers and post-learning quizzes.

• To assess their dialogic thinking, opportunities to discuss and debate are planned into each unit of learning.

• At the end of each unit children communicate their understanding, e.g. through reports, answering enquiry questions or post -learning quizzes.

Formative assessment is prioritised and is focused on whether pupils are keeping up with the curriculum.

 At Mount Street Primary School, we  develop the children's conceptual knowledge and understanding through 'Big Ideas' which develop both in depth and knowledge as the children progress through the school.

Alongside this our pupils will develop their skills of interpreting a range of sources of geographical information including maps, diagrams, globes, aerial photographs and Geographical Information Systems (GIS).