Kilham Church Of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School

At Kilham Primary School, our aims in Geography are to..

- Develop our children's knowledge of the world around them through the study of both human and physical geography. 

- Live out our Christian vision, 'Encourage one another and build each other up' (Thessalonions 5:11) by teaching our children about a range of countries and cultures. 

- Teach children how to use, create and interpret maps. 

- Make children aware of both global and local issues, and help them understand how we can contribute to a solution. 

- Ensure children are aware of inequalities in the world around them and the contributing factors to such, for example interdependence and it's impact on trade. 

- Allow children to take part in high quality fieldwork, both on school grounds and in the local area. 

Intent 

We are very aware that our children are growing up in a rural environment with a significant lack of diversity. Therefore, through high quality teaching, we aim to inspire children to ask questions and show a fascination about the world around them. We carefully select geography driven topics that will get children thinking not only about their local environment, but also about the wider world and cultures/environments vastly different to the one they are growing up in. We hope that children will live out our Christian vision by displaying a tolerant, respectiful attitude when studying the world's people and their cultures. We hope that children will develop an interest in the Earth's features, both natural and human, that will remain with them long after they leave Kilham School. In line with The National Curriculum, children at Kilham Primary School will:

-develop contextual knowledge of the location of globally significant places 

- understand the processes that give rise to key physical and human geographical
features of the world

- be competent in the geographical skills needed to collate data from fieldwork

- interpret a range of sources, including maps and ariel photographs

-communicate this new information through writing, numerical data and maps. 

Implementation

Geography lessons are taught through our Curriculum Maestro curriculum, which creates high quality, inspiring topics that link to relevant geographical concepts. All aspects of The National Curriculum are covered through these topics. Staff also continuously plan and assess, to ensure that all areas of Geography are given equal attention. From these discussions, we now have a 'Fieldwork Week' each year to ensure all children are given the opportunity to take part in high quality fieldwork outside of the classroom. Children in the EYFS begin our geography journey, by exploring the features of their immediate environment. Children will then begin to compare and contrast different countries and cultures as they start to understand how wide the world truly is. This is often done through high quality picture books, inclduing 'Handa's Surprise' by Eileen Browne and 'Coming to England' by Floella Benjamin. A progression document created at the start of the year ensures that geographical skills are built on year after year.

Impact

Through our geography curriculum, children will develop a genuine interest in the subject which will inspire them to build on the knowledge and skills learnt. Children will take a keen interest in the features of the world around them, and will develop a fascination for different cultures. Children will understand differences in climate, features and culture and will be able to discuss this confidently. Children will use our local area to conduct high quality fieldwork and use the appropriate equipment that goes alongside this. 

Year 3 and 4 Volcano day linked to their topic - Rocks Relics and Rumbles

In the Rocks, Relics and Rumbles project, our children learnt about the different layers of the Earth, including plate tectonics and their potential effects on the Earth's surface. They  investigated different types of rock to learn about their uses and properties. They also investigated soil and fossils, including learning about the work of Mary Anning. They had the opportunity to use maps to learn about the lines of latitude and longitude and a compass to learn about the cardinal and intercardinal points. They also learnt about volcanoes, earthquakes and tsunamis and the long and short-term consequences that these can have. As part of their volcano work children built and erupted volcanoes