Our fabulous Geography lead is Mrs Fletcher-Newbold!

A high-quality geography education should inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives.’

- The National Curriculum (2013)

Geography Intent

At Croft Infant School, our curriculum intent for geography reflects the purpose and aims of the national curriculum by helping our pupils to develop a greater understanding and knowledge of our big and beautiful world, as well as their place in it. We believe that the aim of teaching children geography is to stimulate children’s curiosity about the world, alongside provoking and providing answers to questions about the natural and human aspects of the world. The children are given a greater understanding and gain further knowledge about places and environments around them and are provided with opportunities to develop their knowledge and skills, which can be transferred to other curriculum areas. Through direct teaching and independent learning in geography, children at Croft Infants learn about their local area of Alfreton and compare this to other regions in the United Kingdom and in the rest of the world. They learn how to understand and draw maps and they develop the skills of enquiry, research, investigation and problem-solving. Through their growing awareness and understanding of human geography, children gain a respectful appreciation of life in other countries and cultures. Geography teaching provides our children with opportunities to expand their cultural capital and experiences of the world, alongside motivating children to find out about the physical world and enables them to recognise the importance of caring for the environment.

Geography Implementation

At Croft Infant School we use the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework for ‘Understanding the World’ and the National Curriculum KS1 programme of study for geography as the basis for our curriculum planning for Reception, Year 1 and Year 2. We have adapted the national scheme to the local circumstances of our school and we make use of the local environment of Alfreton to enhance the children’s understanding and appreciation of their own locality and environment. We also ensure we choose a locality where the human activities and physical features provide a contrast to those of Alfreton. Our curriculum planning is in three phases: long-term (yearly), medium-term (termly) and short-term (weekly). Our long-term plan maps the geography topics studied in each term during each key stage. In some cases we combine the geographical study with work in other subject areas to create cross curricular links. Teachers have identified the key geographical knowledge, skills and vocabulary, and consideration has been given to ensure progression throughout each year group across the school. Children of all abilities have the opportunity to develop their skills and knowledge in geography. Through planned progression built into the scheme of work, we offer the children an increasing challenge as they move from Reception through to Year 2. All classrooms at Croft Infant School feature a world map, alongside an ‘Enquiry Area’ which is fully resourced and accessible with atlases, globes and maps to support the children’s geography learning in taught sessions, alongside their independent learning. The children are also given the opportunity to use a variety of resources such as maps, statistics, graphs, pictures, aerial photographs, books and the internet to develop their learning and research.

Geography Impact

At Croft Infant School, the impact of our Geography curriculum is measured in a variety of ways, including learning experiences and discussions with children during lessons, frequent conversations with individuals and groups of children in all year groups about their geography learning, and work in ‘Learning Journey’ books. All of the above evidence a broad and balanced geography curriculum and demonstrate children’s acquisition of identified key knowledge. As children progress throughout the school, they develop a greater knowledge, understanding and appreciation of their local area of Alfreton and its place within our big and beautiful world.

 

The Year 2s  have named and located the four countries and capital cities of the United Kingdom

The Y2s have been learning to name and label the seven continents and five oceans using globes, atlases and a world map!