Geography
Intent
Geography in the Poplars Curriculum inspires in our pupils a fascination about the world and people within it. It helps to provoke and provide answers to questions about the natural and human aspects of our world. We want our pupils to appreciate the diversity of physical and human features that exist both in far away places and in our local area. At Poplars Farm, pupils are encouraged to develop a greater understanding of the world, as well as their place in it. We want our pupils to see themselves as active global citizens, with a responsibility to look after our unique earth.
The geography curriculum at Poplars Farm enables children to develop knowledge and skills that are transferable to other curriculum areas and which can and are used to promote their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and enable the development of the global competencies for deep learning.
Geography is, by nature, an investigative subject, which develops an understanding of concepts, knowledge and skills. Through geography, we aim to capture and develop our pupils’ interest and understanding of various places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the earth’s key physical features and human developments.
Geography’s Big Ideas
Location: Locate different places and locate them on maps and globes to foster a sense of discovery. Pupils have the opportunity to learn about a place that is familiar to them (Bradford) and a place that is unfamiliar (Brazil) and then compare and contrast.
Spatial interaction and Movement: Geography helps to explain varied patterns in the movement of people, ideas, and material. Pupils have the opportunity to research the positives and negatives of movement and how it impacts our world. For example;the impact of food miles and carbon footprints- a child may eat an apple that has been grown in the United States .Through the study of ‘Poplars Biggest Ideas’, pupils build their knowledge year on year on key changes linked to such aspects as migration, slavery, culture contact, environmental education.
Impact: Develop pupils’ knowledge of how they are impacting on the world. Pupils discover how human and physical geography impact one another. For example: the weather can often have an impact on the population/ the population on the weather.
Using geographical sources: Pupils develop their knowledge of geographical resources such as globes, maps, journey sticks and messy maps. They also become familiar with online sources such as google maps.
Implementation
As they progress through the school, pupils develop a sound knowledge of diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes. Throughout the year, children also build on map skills by using atlases and maps to demonstrate their understanding of place and space, linked to the Poplars Biggest Idea: Faces, Spaces and Places.
Please continue reading the full Geography K&S progression document
Impact
On leaving Poplars Farm, our pupils will have developed the geographical knowledge and skills to help them explore, navigate and understand the world around them and their place in it. Their knowledge and skills will develop progressively as they move through the school, not only to enable them to meet the requirements of the National Curriculum but to prepare them to become competent geographers in secondary education, keen to assume the role of a responsible global citizen..
Pupils are assessed by making informal judgements during each lesson and through the formal marking process following our school’s marking policy.
In addition:
- Pupil discussions/interviews about their learning, for example through the use of learning process review sheets
- Images and videos of the children’s learning
- The class floor books
- Classroom display
- Moderation within curriculum teams. For example: books, pupil interviews
- Annual reporting of standards across the curriculum (tracking through OTrack) and to Parents