Intent

Geography is about people, places and the world around us.

At Summercroft, we inspire children’s curiosity and fascination about the world and its people. It is by asking and answering questions about the world around them that they become increasingly proficient as young geographers and develop that curiosity and fascination for the world. We develop and deepen children’s geographical knowledge, understanding and skills. We have a strong focus on knowledge.

Our geographical vision - by the time children leave Year 6 we focus on:

• Problem solving
• Being caring
• Being compassionate
• Well-balanced
• Being sustainable
• Good decision makers

At Summercroft we focus on geographical thinking. We do this by focusing on

• Places – focuses on the environment, both physical and human
• Space – highlights location and relationships
• Scale – introduce changes in perspective from the local to the global

Geography fieldwork balances core knowledge with a sense of place.

• Core knowledge – facts, location, names, vocab
• Sense of place – senses, emotions, values, opinions

First-hand experiences provide children with powerful and lasting memories. Children need to manage risk, navigate real landscapes, and use all their senses and gather data in the field using a range of approaches and techniques.

Implementation

At Summercroft, the National Curriculum objectives are split into overarching topics. Geography plays a varying role with some topics heavily focused on geography, such as ‘Never Eat Shredded Wheat’ in Year 1 which focuses on compass points and the 4 countries of the UK or ‘The Amazon’ in Year 4 which focuses on layers of the rainforest as well as how the Amazon has changed over time.

At Summercroft, we begin by teaching the core knowledge – looking at facts, location, and names. Explicit teaching of the correct key vocabulary plays an important role. Once children have that core knowledge, we begin to teach the sense of place – senses, emotions, values as well as their different opinions.

It is important that children have both of these aspects when learning geography - start with the core knowledge before we teach the sense of place.

The majority of the National Curriculum objectives have been covered several times within the key stage to ensure children are secure of their geography knowledge. For example Year 1 cover the world’s seven continents and five oceans and it is then taught again in Year 2. This not only allows children to refresh their subject knowledge but allows children working below expected level to be exposed to the learning several times – it allows for revisiting and consolidation. This allows teachers to help children bridge the gaps in learning connections and stretch and strengthen those ones already made.

At Summercroft, we use conversations as well as asking questions to identify what pupils know and think.

We promote positive relationships and active engagement. Through ‘talk for learning’ teachers can assess a child’s understanding and progress.

What We Love About Geography at Summercroft

‘I love geography because you get to look at maps. I love making my own maps and adding a key.’ Toby – Year 1

‘I know all the seven continents! We learnt a song about them: Asia, Africa, North and South America, Antarctica, Europe and finally Australia.’ Arthur – Year 2

‘We made mountains. We used recycling to make a mountain. Then we used mod-roc on top and then we painted it.’ Rachel – Year 3

‘I loved learning about the Amazon rainforest. I went home and researched more about deforestation. It’s really sad; people are chopping down the rainforest.’ Georgia – Year 4

‘We did our natural disasters presentation to our buddy class in Year 2 and they really enjoyed it! We also did a presentation to the parents which was good!’ Yana – Year 5

‘Survivors was amazing! We went to Birchanger Woods to do some navigation. We did a presentation to the parents. I want to do more geography!’ Stanley – Year 6