Curriculum Intent

At Bitterne Manor Primary school, our Geography curriculum encourages our children to develop a greater understanding and knowledge of the world, as well as their place in it. The curriculum is designed to ensure that pupils are equipped with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes. Through the study of natural and human environments, as well as physical and human processes, our desire is to provide our children with a sense of awe and wonder about the world they live in.

Our curriculum provides our children with the subject specific language they need to describe, question and discuss the world. This starts in the Early years and Key stage 1, where they begin to look at our local area, and discuss features using Geographical language. We provide opportunities to investigate and enquire about our local area, which supports our children to develop an understanding of who they are, their heritage and what makes our local area so unique and special. As they progress through Key stage 2, our older pupils are encouraged to recognise that they have a voice and to use it confidently to debate topics that they feel passionate about, as well as gain a deeper understanding of the wider world and make comparisons. They develop their understanding of the world's climate and physical processes.

We aim to give our learners strong geographical knowledge, good enquiry skills, the ability to use a range of maps to identify places and oceans, the skills to collect and analyse data, and the ability to communicate information in a variety of ways. We hope that our children have a love for geographical learning, gaining knowledge and skills, through teaching both inside and outside the classroom. As the future generation responsible for our planet, we want our children to have a sense of respect for their local area and the wider world.

Curriculum Implementation

Geography at Bitterne Manor Primary school is taught in blocks across the year and forms the basis of the Topics followed by each year group. There are schemes of work specific to each topic which teachers are able to follow to inform their lesson planning. This enables the Geography based Topics to be covered in depth, allowing for greater understanding.

Teachers have identified the key knowledge and skills of each blocked topic and consideration has been given to ensure progression across topics throughout each year group, across the school. At the beginning of the topic, children are given the opportunity to say what they already know or can remember from previous year groups or topics already covered in class. They are also able to convey what they would like to find out, bringing in those key questioning and enquiry skills. This ensures that different starting points are identified and that lessons are relevant, as teachers take into account the difference abilities that our Geographers bring to the topic.

There are strong links between Literacy and Geography and a number of outcomes planned are Literacy based. We also encourage outdoors learning, through visits around our local area and educational visits to other locations.

Curriculum Impact

We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:

• Summative assessment of pupil discussions about their learning within class discussions.
•  Images and videos of the children’s practical learning, both indoors and outdoors learning.
• Interviewing the pupils about their learning (pupil voice).
• Moderation staff meetings where pupil’s books are scrutinised and there is the opportunity for a dialogue between teachers to understand their class’s work.
• Annual reporting of standards across the curriculum.
• Marking of written work in books.

Further Information