Intent

At South Avenue, we believe that through the teaching and learning of geography we aim for children to develop a curiosity and an understanding of the world we live in including its people and their place within it. Geography helps to provoke questions and provide answers about the natural and human aspects of the world. Children are encouraged to develop a greater understanding and knowledge of the world, as well as their place in it. The geography curriculum at South Avenue primary school, enables children to develop knowledge and skills that are transferable to other curriculum areas. We seek to inspire in children a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people which will remain with them for the rest of their lives; to promote the children’s interest and understanding of diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments. The geography curriculum is designed to develop knowledge and skills that are progressive, as well as transferable, throughout their time at South Avenue Primary School and also to their further education beyond.

Implementation

• All year group medium term and long-term planning reflects a full curriculum coverage.
• 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.
• Cross curricular outcomes in geography are specifically planned for, with strong links between geography and literacy lessons identified, planned for and utilised.
• At the beginning of each topic, children are able to convey what they know already as well as what they would like to find out.
• Year groups endeavour to implement Wow moments at the start of topics to engage in the learning.
• Curriculum deficits have been utilised to identify areas of learning which have been lost due to COVID.
• Year groups organise Topic Days, WOW activities, visitors into school and trips to support children’s learning and develop understanding.
• Consideration is given to how greater depth will be taught, learnt and demonstrated within each lesson, as well as how learners will be supported in line with the school’s commitment to inclusion.

Impact

• Assessment is effectively carried out by teachers through the use of geographical knowledge organisers. This allows teachers, children and parents to see what skills and knowledge need to be covered in the geography and what has been taught in previous years. Knowledge organisers also provide a list of key vocabulary to support children’s development of topical vocabulary throughout the learning sequence.
• Subject monitoring is carried out to inform subject action planning and next steps.
• Classroom environments reflect topics through displays.
• Children have the opportunity to reflect and revisit previous learning through red questions, problem of the day and other retrieval activities as seen in the assessment button below. Some retrieval activities could include entrance and exit tickets, cops and robbers and revisiting grids. Please visit our assessment button below for an insight to geographical activities (which can be completed at home too!) and other retrieval tasks.
• Globe Trotters will be coming to South Avenue in 2024! Globe Trotters provides children with opportunities to learn about world geography and cultures and opportunities to understand and appreciate diversity in our world. Children will engage in activities focused on one country, allowing them to fully embrace and explore the culture. Our mascot is a Globe Trottin’ lion called Atlas. Examples can be seen when clicking on the ‘Globe Trotters’ button below.