Geography at Knowle

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

At Knowle we have carefully curated a geography curriculum, which engages, inspires and challenges pupils to learn and remember more. We want our children to love Geography! We want them to have no limits as to their future ambitions and grow up wanting to be cartographers, town planners, conservationists or weather forecasters. Our aim is that, through the teaching of Geography at Knowle, we provide a purposeful platform for exploring, appreciating and understanding the world in which we live and how it has evolved. We want to ensure that through Geography, pupils are able to explore the relationship between the Earth and its people through the study of place, space and environment. In Geography, pupils in our school will not only learn the skills of understanding locational knowledge; but how and where people fit into its overall structure. We also intend for children to become passionate and knowledgeable about our local community and beyond, by learning through experiences in practical and fieldwork activities.

Our curriculum ensures coverage of the National Curriculum aims as a minimum, so our children have the best possible experience of Geography, which prepares them for Key Stage 3. Within our geography curriculum, there are three key vertical concepts. Vertical concepts are the more abstract ideas or threads 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

Developing an understanding of space through ideas related to location, distribution, pattern and distance.

Developing a sense of place and character through ideas related to identity, home, community, landscapes and diversity, and examining a range of case studies from across the globe.

Physical Processes

How the Earth’s natural processes shape and change the surface of the Earth. This includes both Geology & Earth Science aspects, such as the structure of the Earth and physical features we see on the land, as well as Environmental Science aspects, such as the weather and our changing climate. Both of these are threaded through our science curriculum too.

Human Processes

The processes and phenomena that are caused by or relate to people, including out Use of Resources; the distribution and changes to Population & Communities; and the features of Economy & Development.

A balanced view of the countries of the world, to address or event preempt misconceptions and negative stereotypes.

These key concepts are then further broken down into the geographical concepts of: Fieldwork, Settlement, Scale, Diversity, Landscape, Climate, Landform, Interconnection, Trade, Resources, Land Use, Sustainability and Location. Our intent is to inspire a genuine interest for our children in geography, alongside a real sense of curiosity about the world and the people who live in it. Our children will then develop an excellent knowledge of where places are and what they are like, both in Britain and the wider world. Starting in EYFS, the children will gain a clear and thorough understanding of their local area and the sense of place it creates for them. These geographical foundations are then built upon as children progress through the key stages, ensuring they have a comprehensive understanding of the ways in which places are interdependent and interconnected. Combined with excellent fieldwork skills as well as other geographical aptitudes and techniques, our children have the ability to express well-balanced opinions, rooted in very good knowledge and understanding about current issues in society and the environment. All our fieldwork is purposeful, providing our children with opportunities to explicitly practise relevant disciplinary knowledge or to reinforce substantive knowledge.

Within our geography curriculum, we have categorised substantive knowledge into two types:

Conceptual
Procedural

By conceptual knowledge we mean the core geographical facts of a particular unit, for example that Biomes are large ecosystems that contain specific species of organisms.

Procedural knowledge refers to the skills of being a geographer, such as how to use different types of map, or interpret and construct graphs.

Disciplinary Knowledge

Disciplinary knowledge refers to how geographers carry out their discipline and the thought processes required to do so. Within our Knowle geography curriculum, disciplinary knowledge has been organised to cover:

Enquiry & Fieldwork
Making Comparisons
Interconnections
Forming Judgements

Our curriculum for geography provides all children, regardless of their background, with:

Entitlement - Regardless of their starting point, our geography curriculum allows children to immerse themselves in their geographical learning, exploring ideas in order to develop the confidence to excel in their understanding of our multicultural world. All children will learn about cultures through our religious, history and geography curriculum.
Coherence - Taking the National Curriculum as its starting point, our geography curriculum is sequenced from Early Years to Key Stage 3 and beyond. Children’s theoretical and disciplinary knowledge is therefore sequenced and through this, children are able to build a deeper understanding across key stages, consequently forming a clear alignment to the secondary curriculum.
Mental Flexibility - The sequencing of our curriculum ensures that our children are able to make meaningful links between subjects, and the order of units allows these connections to be made between subjects strengthening and deepening children’s understanding. We ensure that foundational knowledge, skills and concepts are secure before moving on. Children revisit prior learning and apply their understanding in new contexts
Mastery - All children will be explicitly taught about the vertical concepts, enabling them to reflect upon the deeper, bigger and more abstract geographical concepts which all our children gradually build throughout their primary education. Children will revisit, develop, make comparisons, interconnections and will be able to form judgements, enabling an increased breadth of understanding.
Working Memory – Our geography curriculum has been designed to ensure we do not overload children’s working memories with concepts being revisited, thus, further consolidating the transfer of information from working memory to long-term memory. Spaced retrieval practice, through questioning, quizzes and peer-explanations, are primarily learning strategies to improve retrieval practice – the bringing of information to mind.
Adaptability - Our geographical curriculum has been designed specifically to ensure that teachers are able to select and adapt resources. At Knowle, we ensure that children are also fully immersed in our local context. Including stretch and challenge opportunities and appropriate levels of scaffolding, ensures all our children are able to access our geography curriculum and reach their full learning potential.
Representation - The geography curriculum at Knowle, provides children with the opportunity to learn about and explore cultures, values and beliefs from around the world. All our children see themselves in our curriculum, and our geography curriculum takes all children beyond their immediate experiences.
Education with Character -We aim to build and maintain children’s confidence in their ability as geographers of our modern world today. Our geography curriculum develops aspects of character such as resilience, confidence and risk-taking. Through our curriculum, children are given opportunities to share, reflect and learn about each other’s experiences whilst recognising the things we have in common. Our curriculum - which includes the taught subject timetable as well as spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, our co-curricular provision and the ethos and ‘hidden curriculum’ of the school – is intended to spark curiosity and to nourish both the head and the heart.

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

At Knowle, teachers have a positive attitude towards the teaching of relevant and progressive Geography in their classrooms. Learning is never capped but reinforces an ethos that all children are capable of achieving high standards embedded in quality first teaching. Geography is taught from EYFS to Year 6 through our LAT-wide geography curriculum. At Knowle, our spiral geography curriculum is taught in 6-lesson units, once a term (Geography alternates with History). The sequencing of our curriculum ensures that our children are taught the skills of mental flexibility, being able to make meaningful links not only between contexts, but between subjects. The order of units allows these connections to be made.

Our spiral geography curriculum also ensures that knowledge, concepts and skills are built upon progressively. For example:

In EYFS, children will develop an understanding of their world. This focuses on the individual child, their immediate family and the people who care for them and keep them safe. They will be able to talk about their own family and community. Children will become more knowledgeable about their immediate locality through fieldwork and visits from local services such as police officers and firefighters. These opportunities will teach them about important people who help to keep them safe. They will begin to develop knowledge of places; taught through story books, maps, songs and other age-appropriate means.

In KS1, children will build on this knowledge in a widening field. At Knowle, we consider the local geography of our area by immersing ourselves in our immediate environment, before widening out to incorporate other countries in Cycle B. Our children will use an ever-increasing breadth of knowledge to ask and answer questions about the world around them; they will begin to develop good locational knowledge and will be confident discussing geographical features of the areas they have studied using geographical terminology and vocabulary

In KS2, the children further consolidate their knowledge of the geography of our local area and extend their understanding by considering: the impact made by climate change, the impact of plastic pollution, the relative impact of our actions and how they can be mitigated.

Our geography schemas outline the knowledge (including vocabulary) that all children must master and apply in lessons. Our children also have a graphic knowledge organiser which is also used to support children in moving their knowledge into their long-term memory through the use of dual-coding. 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.

The implementation of our geography curriculum not only reflects our broader teaching and learning principles, but at Knowle, 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 population structures, 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, scholarly writing appear throughout the curriculum. These have a clear purpose and audience and, crucially, allow pupils to write as a geographer. For example, 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.

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

First and foremost, children at Knowle enjoy their Geography lessons! Our successful approach results in an engaging, practical and high-quality Geography curriculum, which provides the children with the skills and resources to learn about, discover and question the natural and human-constructed world around them and finally encounter more abstract ideas. The impact, of our Geography curriculum design, has led to outstanding progress over time, across key stages relative to a child’s individual starting point and their progression of skills. Wherever possible, we endeavoured to provide historical links; developing children’s mental flexibility whilst making Geography both fun and interesting as our children begin to see the bigger picture; helping our children to do much more than just learn and ultimately increasing their Geography capital.

Children are therefore expected to leave Knowle reaching at least age-related expectations for Geography. Our Geography curriculum also leads pupils to be enthusiastic Geography learners, evidenced in a range of ways, including pupil-voice and their learning. Upon leaving Knowle to embark on their journey to Key Stage 3 learning, children are equipped with the skills, knowledge and understanding to confidently continue their Geography learning journey.

At Knowle, our geography follows the LAT assessment framework which informs schools about the impact of two main aspects of the Teaching and Learning process:

The depth of a pupil's knowledge, understanding and ability to make links in learning.
The ability for pupils to apply procedural knowledge to skill-based activities.

Within the context of Geography, the following methods of assessment are used:

Recall knowledge: In key stage 1 and 2, more sophisticated schema building techniques and spaced retrieval quizzes are used to assess knowledge at the beginning, throughout and at the end of each term. Retrievals take place in a variety of forms: knowledge checks (which focus on knowledge gained in the previous lesson); the Knowledge Schema, which will be visited through retrieval activities at the beginning of weekly lessons; and retrieval quiz, at the end of a unit. Children’s progress is continually monitored and tracked throughout their time at Knowle School.

This assessment of our children’s knowledge in these areas will be used to inform future lessons, the need for additional practice, pre-teach and interventions.

Explore and Question: Using our schemas and graphic knowledge organisers, children will be challenged to demonstrate an ability to use their knowledge by being asked rich, varied questions relating to the subject. Our children will be able to use a rich vocabulary to communicate their own thoughts and interpretations of questions relating to the subject. They will demonstrate their understanding of the taught skills, techniques and knowledge to explore their own ideas within Geography, selecting and exploring the techniques they have developed so far.

Communication and Language | What does this look like at Knowle?

Our planning reflects the importance of spoken language. The quality and variety of language, including tiered vocabulary, that children hear and speak are key factors in developing their geographical vocabulary and articulating geographic concepts clearly and precisely.
During lessons, children also have opportunities for critical thinking, where carefully posed questions enable them to apply their learning in a philosophical and open manner. These communication and language opportunities ensure children have time to embed their tiered vocabulary, which has been taught explicitly through the use of glossaries and schemas, in the appropriate context. Further oracy opportunities are consistently embraced through the use of sentence stems and partner talk.
Questions will probe pupil understanding throughout lessons and responses are expected in full sentences, using precise and appropriate geographical spoken language. Teachers check understanding so they can fill gaps and address misconceptions as required.
In key stage one, the children start every geography lesson with a knowledge check and oracy based quiz, which once established will evolve into show me boards where children are encouraged to expand on their answers.
By the end of key stage two, children will be able to understand and talk about interactions between natural and human environments, connections between people in their local community and those in other countries, and they will broaden their understanding of globalisation and trade links. They will consider how decisions are made and how people respond. They will be able to talk about the consequences of change, socially, economically, politically and environmentally. Children will be confident discussing geographical similarities and differences through studying contrasting regions and will use a wide range of geographical vocabulary to share their ideas. All areas taught will support children’s development of enquiry, as we recognise that it is a dynamic and active ingredient in children’s learning and understanding of the world.

Key Questions: At the start of each new geography unit, the children are introduced to four key questions that they will be able to answer by the end of the unit. These key questions are revisited and discussed every geography lesson, ensuring that children are able to recall these key points of learning, and transfer this information from their working memory to their long-term memory.

Pupil Voice: Subject leads and SLT talk to children about what they have learnt, both substantive and disciplinary knowledge, and how this connects to the vertical concepts that they have been developing in previous years and other subjects. For example, pupils in year 4 may be asked to talk about how the tropical rainforest biome is similar or different to hot and cold deserts, and how these biomes are affected by human activity, such as deforestation or migration.

Parent Voice: Children’s attainment is reported to parents in their child’s annual report and is shared at parents’ meetings.

Lesson Structure | What does a geography lesson look like at Knowle?

Individual and coherent learning opportunities within lessons are constructed, which match the lesson objective, the needs and context of the cohort of children and may link to other areas of the curriculum (such as theme links or real-life problems) ensuring multiple opportunities for children to further develop their mental flexibility.
Whole class together – we teach Geography to whole mixed-ability classes. Lessons are planned based on formative assessment of what our children already know, and we include all children in learning Geographical concepts. At the planning stage, teachers consider what scaffolding may be required for children who may struggle to grasp concepts in the lesson.
Key learning points are identified during planning (collaboratively in year groups) and a clear coherent journey through the Geographical concepts is shown on both the plans and the lesson flip charts.
Tricky bits and possible misconceptions are identified during the planning process and explicit opportunities made to address these within teaching sessions.
The main teaching activity should be whole-class based with everyone covering the same content.
The role of teaching assistants in lessons is to directly mirror and support the class teacher. They will also be proactive during the main part of the lesson in supporting ongoing assessment and development of the children’s understanding of the lesson focus.

Differentiation and SEND | What does differentiation look like in Geography?

At Knowle, differentiation is about making sure that all children are appropriately challenged. Teachers are required to adapt their teaching for individual children. If the children find the learning achievable, then the scaffolding is removed. If the children are struggling, then each teacher models and adapts their approach. Knowle’s differentiation is not about lowering the bar. Each teacher understands the progression for the concept they are teaching.

Geography Cultural Capital | What does this look like at Knowle?

Through our careful, considered, spiral and progressive geography curriculum, trips and experiences are provided, ensuring that our children gain a first-hand experience, enabling them to further embed the key geographical concepts being taught. Using our local area for fieldwork also ensures we are able to motivate our children to continue to develop their geographical knowledge skills, and how they apply these to understand the world around them. By developing a deeper appreciation of geography, our children are able to revisit these places/activities sharing their experiences with their parents/carers. At Knowle, we also value geographical days such as Earth Day, with the whole school completing activities based around themes, again providing children with the opportunity to interact and fully immerse themselves into their geographical learning. Topical news from around the world is regularly incorporated into assemblies, ensuring children have a worldwide understanding of how geography shapes and impacts upon our world today.

Geography in Action

Learning about the World - Geography in EYFS