Geography
Intent
At Eyres Monsell Primary School, we aim to broaden our children’s horizons by expanding their knowledge of the wider world as they progress through our school. We seek to nurture curious young minds of the world around them by providing our children with opportunities to expand their cultural capital and experiences of the world, including a diverse range of real life places, situations and people.
Through the study of natural and human environments, as well as physical and human processes, our desire is to provide our children with a sense of awe and wonder about the world they live in.
As they continue on their journey of Geography, we aim to foster a deep understanding of the subject that develops alongside their geographical skills. We aim to expand our children’s Geographical vocabulary, with the subject-specific language they need to describe, question and discuss the world, as well as their place in it.
Our Geography curriculum is designed to encourage our children to recognise that they have a voice as the next generation; to use it confidently to debate topics that they feel passionate about, for example, deforestation or renewable energy.
Implementation
Based upon the National Curriculum and the individual needs of our children, we have created a Geography progression map, which sets out the objectives taught in each year group within the themes of locational and place knowledge, human and physical geography, enquiry and investigation, field work, location and direction and using and representing maps. Our children begin their journey by learning about their local area, Leicester, then moving onto wider UK, Europe and ending with continents and cultures from around the world within their time in Key Stage 2.
Within Eyres Monsell Primary School, Geography is taught within the whole school topics of “Wonders of the World” and “Amazing Earth” to allow open discussions, focuses and comparisons for children from all ages. We teach Geography, along with its skills, explicitly, as well as creating cross-curricular links, which put the learning into context for our children. Our aim for all pupils is to know more and remember more from their Geography lessons, where the use of questioning, opportunities for discussion and investigation foster a love for learning within this area of the curriculum. Each individual lesson has content that is differentiated between, and within, year groups so that learning is adapted for all needs, age-appropriate and high expectations are maintained for all.
We provide many opportunities for the children to experience the wider world across their life at Eyres Monsell Primary School as well as develop their cultural capital. For instance, the year 4s will discover orienteering in a new environment, year 3s will gather and forage in the wild, year 2s will visit hills and peaks.