Geography

Since the writings of Ptolemy and Strabo in the first and second century, geography has been a curiosity that has interested scholars and philosophers. Geography is the subject that seeks to make sense of the world and its people, places and environments through explanatory relationships. At Upton St James (USJ), we believe that at the core of teaching Geography is the ability to give pupils an understanding of the world around them, its environments, places near and far, and the processes that create and affect them. This links to our scripture of children learning to love their ‘neighbour as themselves’ (based on Mark 12 v30-31).  

The study of geography is about more than just memorising places on a map. It’s about understanding the complexity of our world, appreciating the diversity of cultures that exist across continents. And in the end, it’s about using all that knowledge to help bridge divides and bring people together. (Barak Obama) 

We aim to facilitate our pupils to ‘rise to their best’ and become Geographers at an age-appropriate level through the use of enquiry. Our enquiries focus on people, places and processes progressively at a local, national and global level; building a pupil’s sense of spatial awareness beginning right from EYFS. Our pupils are taught about the importance of sustainability and how human actions and interactions make an impact locally, nationally and globally.  

In the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) our youngest pupils will learn Geography through both taught lessons and in their continuous provision under the Understanding of the World strand of the curriculum. Children learn to be early Geographers through a combination of Connected Curriculum units and additional knowledge linked to our locality. Learning will include the use of simple maps, exploring the natural world as well as learning about people, culture and communities. Pupils will learn Geography through playing, exploring, active learning, creating and thinking critically (the Characteristics of Effective Learning). There are many opportunities for cross curricular learning, such as linking Geography to Science when learning about the seasons.  

From Year 1 to Year 6, staff at USJ teach the aims and subject content of the National Curriculum 2014. Children at USJ learn Geography through an enquiry-based curriculum based on the units from the ‘Connected Curriculum’. 

Our approaches to teaching Geography are as follows: 

• The Geography Progression document clearly outlines how pupils acquire an accumulation of knowledge  

• Pupils are given opportunities each lesson to retrieve prior learning to ensure that knowledge is stored into long-term memory 

• Schemas of knowledge and knowledge organisers ensure pupils make clear connections between units and prior and new knowledge 

• Children are specifically taught tier 2 (grow words) and tier 3 (show-off words) in each unit and are built upon year-on-year. Pupils’ acquisition and command of an ever-growing store of geographical vocabulary at their disposal is key to their learning and progress within Geography. 

• Fieldwork and map work is used to enhance cultural capital and children’s knowledge and understanding of fieldwork and map skills 

We utilise the Geographical Association Curriculum framework (2022) as our framework for enabling every child to develop as a Geographer. The aims and forms of knowledge are explained below: 

We acknowledge that children and young people make progress in school geography by developing: 

 • knowledge about the world (substantive knowledge), based on appropriate selections of curriculum content for different levels of curriculum design (national/local), and for their different ages and circumstances  

• knowledge about how geographers understand the world, investigate it, and build and test new knowledge (disciplinary knowledge), which is dependent on access to geographical concepts and practices being built into the curriculum  

• knowledge and skills in geographical application, so that they grow and mature as individuals and citizens by developing their personal capabilities, values and moral codes, allowing them to participate in society and to apply the insights learned in geography 

To help organise our curriculum, we frame our geography curriculum around the four key concepts as outlined in the GA framework. These are: Space, Place, Earth systems & Environment.  

Organising concepts are also vital to geographical understanding.  

Organising concepts represent the range of perspectives within which to consider substantive geographical content and provide a common language within which to consider the different operational dimensions of geographical thought.  

The organising concepts which enable the children to consider the geographical knowledge are. We colour code them within the progression document to enable them to be focused upon in depth within lessons.  

• Time   (Continuity/ change)  

• Scale (Micro/macro)  

• Diversity (Similarity/ difference)  

• Interconnection (Independent / contingent or dependent on)  

• Interpretation (Perspectives / representations) 

Geographical enquiry:  

Pupils learn Geography through 'the lens of the discipline' as young geographers, growing in their understanding of the methods and skills that geographers employ to generate knowledge of the subject. As our pupils progress through the school from EYFS to Year 6, they are challenged to master and apply through a pedagogy of enquiry, the critical disciplinary thinking skills that characterise and inform learning in Geography summarised here:  

Overall, our geography curriculum enables our pupils to draw these three geographical threads together, which are interrelated:  

Substantive concepts  

These concepts are key ‘threads’ running through our geography curriculum to develop its connectedness. Children gain deeper understanding of these substantive concepts as they move through the school.   

Pupils have a growing knowledge and understanding of their place in the world, how they interact with the world and the impact that they make around them. Our pupils are confident Geographers, with the ability to discuss and connect their learning from past and current units, as well as demonstrate increasing understanding and ability to articulate the key concepts and organising concepts of Geography.