Geography is a valued part of the curriculum, providing a purposeful means for exploring, appreciating and understanding the world in which we live and how it has evolved. Geography explores the relationship between the Earth and its people through the study of place, space and environment. Geography is concerned with pupils learning about their own locality, whilst becoming aware of and developing knowledge and understanding of the world beyond their own environment.
Geography encourages children to learn through experience, particularly through practical and fieldwork activities. At Howard Park Community School, we believe it is important to build a geographical curriculum that endorses the importance for outdoor learning to build a curiosity for learning to help them to know more, remember more and understand more.
The aims of geography are:
- To inspire in pupils about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives.
- To provide pupils with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments.
- To develop a growing knowledge about the world to deepen their understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes, and of the formation and use of landscapes and environments.
- To obtain Geographical knowledge, understanding and skills.
- To enable children to learn and explain how the Earth’s features at different scales are shaped, interconnected and change over time.
How Is Geography Taught At Howard Park?
Geography is taught through discrete lessons from Y1 – Y6. These lessons are timetabled for 3 half terms across the school year. In EYFS it is taught through the continuous curriculum and provision.
The way in which Geography is taught at Howard Park contains the following approaches. Not every lesson will contain every single one of these, however children should experience all of these through the geography curriculum:
- Start Local, Go Global
- New and topical content
- Questioning
- Enquiry Based Learning
- Critical Thinking
- Debate
- Teaching For A Sustainable World
Alongside developing Geographical Understanding, to develop pupils as effective geographers, the following skills are required:
- Making use of maps
- Making meaning with vocabulary
- Make sense through graphicacy
- Making learning real through fieldwork and the outdoors.
If you would like to know more information about our Geography curriculum, please see the documents below.