Geography Curriculum Statement

Our Curriculum Drivers:

Possibility: To have high aspirations for their personal and academic achievement both now and in the future. We believe that the development of aspirations encourages children to take pride in themselves and be the very best they can be. It is essential that our children are made aware of the range of possibilities that are available to them during their time with us, and beyond.

Creativity: We value creativity and believe that a creative curriculum encourages children to be imaginative, innovative individuals with the confidence to try new ideas and be curious and questioning in the world around them.

Diversity: To ensure our children have the ability to be reflective about their own beliefs and perspective on life, as well as knowledge of and respect for different people’s faiths, cultures feelings and values; thus, understanding that the world we live in is diverse.

Community: Through our learner for life ‘Hiltingbury Heroes’, we ensure children are provided with opportunities to develop a range of life skills. We provide every opportunity for children to learn how to think creatively, work as a team, reflect, participate and research independently. We aim to give children the opportunity to put their understanding of local issues into a global context, so that they see how their decisions can have an impact on others now and in the future.

Curriculum Intentions:

At Hiltingbury Infant School we seek to inspire a curiosity of our local area and the wider world around us. We will draw upon the diversity in our community to share our own experiences of different countries, climates and cultures, while exploring and learning about new and exciting places in our world. We want our children to be proud of their local community and Hiltingbury Infant School.

By the end of their three years with us, our children will have a good understanding of where they live and be able to make comparisons to other locations around the world. Through investigating seasons and weather patterns in EYFS, to understanding the role the equator plays in temperatures across the globe, we want our children to have a developed sense of where our country fits into the greater world and its processes.

We value fieldwork and the enrichment it brings to our geographical practices and so we make the most of our wonderful school grounds and local area for children to discover and explore for themselves the concepts and knowledge taught in lessons.

Our intent is that through quality first teaching and hands on experiences, our children will leave our school with a greater sense of the world around them and a curiosity in places and people.

At Hiltingbury Infants, the characteristics of an effective Geographer are:

• Making observations and using the vocabulary of similar and different to describe
• Being able to compare and contrast to localities other than their own
• Communicating their geographical knowledge verbally and through jottings/ diagrams and words
• Having a good understanding of different geographical resources, e.g. maps, globes, Google Earth, and how these can each be used to further their geographical knowledge
• Having an interest in their local area and contrasting areas from further afield
• Using and understanding geographical vocabulary
• Knowledge of where places are and what they are like

Curriculum Implementation

We aspire for every child to get better at geography during their time at Hiltingbury Infants. Getting better comes from regularly revisiting knowledge and skills and applying it in new or different contexts. This strengthens children’s memory and acquiring the characteristics of effective learning will also support our children at getting better at geography.

Our geography curriculum is organised to ensure children have the opportunity to repeat, practise, recall and retrieve key knowledge and skills in different ways and contexts. Concepts are taught in a progressive sequence; with each concept building on what has been taught before.

Proficiency in geography comes from acquiring knowledge and skills, conceptual vocabulary and the characteristics of effective learning. Knowledge, skills, vocabulary and the characteristics of effective learning inform all task design. Within each lesson, knowledge, skills and associated vocabulary are selected for emphasis and thoroughness.  Learning journeys are used to ensure all lessons fit within a sequence, so teachers know what has gone before and what comes next. Learning journeys enable teachers to purposefully position knowledge and skills to build on previous and subsequent teaching. The local area is fully utilised to achieve the desired outcomes, with extensive opportunities for learning outside the classroom embedded in practice.

Teaching for progression

Systematic repetition of the most crucial content is the rationale for our geography planning. Our research has supported us in understanding that repetition (spaced practice) and retrieval are very effective in getting information into children’s long-term memories. Our learning journeys support children in acquiring, consolidating and using knowledge and skills in different ways. Opportunities to learn, practise and apply facilitates this.  These approaches enable children to repeat crucial content across a sequence of lessons at their own pace.   Retrieval tasks are used to develop and strengthen children’s memory. 

What does Geography look like across the curriculum?

The geography education pupils experience at Hiltingbury Infants enables children to acquire crucial knowledge and skills to develop contextual knowledge of their location and contrasting areas further afield, including their defining physical and human characteristics and how these provide a geographical context for understanding the actions of processes. Our geography curriculum is organised into clear learning pathways; with the same big ideas being repeated across year groups.

We value fieldwork and the enrichment it brings to our geographical practices and so we make the most of our wonderful school grounds and local area for children to discover and explore for themselves the concepts and knowledge taught in lessons. Our teaching of geography uses a range of sources, including maps, diagrams, globes, aerial photographs and Geographical Information. We ensure that pupils communicate geographical information in a variety of ways, including through maps, numerical and quantitative skills and writing at length.

Curriculum Impact

The effectiveness of our Geography curriculum is measured by children remembering crucial knowledge and using skills in different ways and contexts

across the curriculum to prepare them for later life. Using hands on experiences, our children will leave our school with a greater sense of the world around them and a curiosity in places and people.