Geography

Geography at Eastway

 

Geography Intent

At Eastway, we aim for our geography curriculum to be:

  • Well Designed and Delivered, fulfilling the requirements of the National Curriculum.  We lay the foundations needed for successful learning through the robust delivery of our Easter Matters Early Years Curriculum which is tailored to pupil's needs 
  • Knowledge-Rich so that children build deep geographical knowledge that they return to and build upon as they move through school
  • Closing the Gap: we carefully check children have the prior learning they need to be successful in a lesson and take action to support them fill any gaps they may have.  We also check how well they are acquiring new knowledge in the lesson to adapt the lesson to their needs and provide additional support or challenge for children who need so that all children achieve our ambitious learning focus.
  • Develop fieldwork skills and use this to apply the knowledge they have learned in the real world
  • Bring Learning to Life as children have real-life experiences of geography in their locality
  • Develop children as active, independent learners who are Ready, Respectful, Responsible
  • Love learning about geography!
Geography Implementation at Eastway 
To achieve these aims, we have carefully mapped out exactly what children learn in each year group, the summary of this is shown below:
More importantly, we have mapped out exactly what knowledge will be covered in each year group so that children can recall what they have already learned and build upon it.  This helps your child change their long term memory of key ideas in geography as ideas are regularly returned to and deepened.
 
Our progression of knowledge maps children's learning all the way from EYFS to KS3 so that we can be confident we are preparing your child well for the knowledge they will need when they go to secondary school.
It is also important that your child develops their geography vocabulary and study a wide range of places both in the UK and beyond.   We have also mapped these out so your child makes progress in these areas each year too.
Your child's class teacher then plans their geography unit, carefully checking that your child has retained what they have learned previously and then builds upon this knowledge with new learning.  
 
We will send a copy of this knowledge overview home and will also upload it to your child's class webpage so that you know what they are learning in school each half term.

Teachers use resources from the Oddizzi scheme of work which provides quality resources for your child

In our geography lessons at Eastway, we:

  •          Use geographical terminology correctly
  •          Evoke explorative learning and inquiry about the world
  •          Consolidate new and previous knowledge
  •          Opportunities to ask and research questions
  •          Provide quality fieldwork opportunities in school and on educational visits 
  •          Children Developing deep knowledge of the places they study
  •          Geography vocabulary taught, used and modeled correctly
  •          Routinely using quality resources to support geographical knowledge                        (maps, atlases, geographical information systems)
  •          Geography specific to the children at Eastway and the wider world
  •          Links being made between previous and new learning
  •          Discussion and dialogue to promote the use of geographical vocabulary
  •          Mixed ability groups to share knowledge and vocabulary
Geography Impact
To check your child has learned what we have intended them to, we set short tasks within lessons to see how much your child has understood and adapt our lessons from their to meet their needs.  We use knowledge checkers with key facts for each lesson to help focus children's minds on the important parts of the lesson and to assess whether they have understood these.
 
To get a picture of what your child is retaining over time, we use the prior learning checks at the beginning of each lesson, complete quizzes at the end of each week, look at the work they have completed in their books and complete end of unit impact summaries.  These reviews of learning are completed by their class teacher, our geography lead and our SLT 
 
We will let you know how your child is getting on in geography in their end of year report and will give you opportunities to see their work in books throughout the year.  If you would like any further information, please contact your child's class teacher or contact the school office.