Arbury Primary School - Geography Implementation

Curriculum and Learning

Geography Implementation

At Arbury, we use an enquiry-based approach to teach geography whereby each topic is framed upon a key question and several ancillary questions. Each geography unit has a ‘Knowledge Organiser’ which is stuck into children’s books and helps to identify the key substantive knowledge which we want the children to acquire during the unit. To support with providing a rigorous, engaging and skills based approach to geography, we use and adapt units from David Weatherly, ‘Primary Connected Geography’ published by Collins. This ensures teachers are clear about the skills and knowledge which pupils will need to build, as well as core vocabulary for each unit of study. Each year group completes three units of geography a year. Where appropriate, we have adapted the geography units so they are bespoke to the children’s experiences, opportunities and the geographical location of the school. For example, when Year 2 learn about the seaside, this learning is based on their summer term trip to Hunstanton Beach.

Our geography curriculum, based on the Collins Connected scheme, is carefully designed to consider the needs of our pupils in terms of its sequencing and progression. For example, in Year 1 the pupil’s study the weather; this is further developed and built upon in Year 4 when climates and biomes are studied and then again in Year 6 when climate change is the focus of a unit. These carefully sequenced units which focus on climate and the weather; trade; physical processes and contrasting localities allow the children to gain knowledge and skills which accumulate over time. The units studied by each year group can be seen below:

	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3	Year 4	Year 5	Year 6
Autumn	What is the geography of my school and the local area?	Why does it matter where our food comes from?	Beyond the Magic Kingdom: What is the Sunshine State really like?	How and why is my local environment changing?	Why are mountains so Important?	Why is fair trade fair?
Spring	How does the weather affect our lives?	Where is Kampong Ayer and how does it compare to where I live?	Why do so many people live in Megacities?	Why do some earthquakes cause more damage than others?	How do volcanoes affect the lives of people on Hiemaey?	Who are Britain’s National Parks for?
Summer	Why don’t penguins need to fly?	Why do people like to be beside the seaside?	How can we live more sustainably?	Why are jungles so wet and deserts so dry?	What is a river?	How is climate change affecting the world?

To ensure geography is exciting and engaging we provide lots of opportunities for our children to develop disciplinary skills alongside their substantive knowledge. Important subject knowledge is implicit in each enquiry but this is balanced with adequate time and opportunity for pupils to master key subject skills and outcomes. These disciplinary skills include using maps, critical thinking, geographical enquiry and fieldwork. Substantive knowledge and disciplinary knowledge are interrelated: the graphic below, taken from the ‘Ofsted Research Review: Geography 2021’, identifies each form of geographical knowledge and the relationships between them:

There are several rich opportunities for the children to take part in fieldwork across all year groups. For example, in Year 4 children assess the urban environments around the school by going on a local walk and in Year 2, children complete traffic and housing surveys of the local area.

Where possible, links are made between geography and other subject areas including reading, maths and the art and DT curriculum. For example, when Year 5 learn about mountains, their Guided Reading text for that half term is ‘Everest: Earth’s Incredible Places’. In Year 4, when learning about different climates, the children analyse climate graphs and construct their own climate graphs to represent the weather in Cambridge, linking to data handling in maths. Regular enrichment activities are planned for all year groups, such as trips and visitors, in order to help immerse the children in their geography topics helping to make the learning more memorable and deepen understanding. As well as some trips further afield, such as to Hunstanton and exciting trips such as the Year 5 river trip, there are also several local trips and walks arranged which link to geography and allow fieldwork to take place.