Intent:

At Oliver’s Battery Primary and Nursery School, our aim is to inspire children’s curiosity, interest and appreciation for the world that we live in. We intend to equip children with the necessary geographical knowledge to develop their skills through a range of studies of physical (natural) and human environments, both locally and worldwide.

Within our geography projects, our pupils are exposed to a rich and balanced curriculum which provides them with essential knowledge and vocabulary. As pupils progress through the school, they will develop an insight into the links between physical and human processes, whilst also discovering how landscapes and environments have changed, and continue to change, over time. Through the celebration of important dates, such as Earth Day, children will learn their role as global citizens and their place within an ever-changing world. They will explore current global issues such as climate change, considering the impact of these issues alongside the efforts to address and improve them.

Our geography lessons and learning journeys are adapted in order to cater for the needs of all children in each class. This enables us to make sure that all children receive high quality, yet accessible, teaching and learning. For this reason, our formative assessment takes into account the opportunity for children to successfully meet objectives without the need for them to write down their understanding. This reduces the cognitive load and ensures every child is given a fair chance.

From nursery through to Year 6, we aim to inspire curiosity and fascination about the world and its people, which will hopefully remain with our pupils for the rest of their lives, equipping them well for further education and beyond. Through their understanding of the world, we hope our children will become adults who are resilient, empathetic, tolerant and accepting of others.

Implementation:

Our Geography curriculum follows the National Curriculum and provides children with an array of enriching opportunities, with a focus on outdoor learning. Our pupil’s experience of the geography curriculum is enhanced through fieldwork and school trips, including our residential trips to Ferny Croft and Calshot, alongside a number of local area visits to develop the children’s awareness of their locality. In lessons, children develop their geographical enquiry skills though exploring the relationship between physical environments and human influence.

Our school’s approach to the wider curriculum is to weave the different subjects together with half-termly projects. Twice a year, geography becomes the subject driver for our projects, enabling it to take priority whilst also showing children the strong links with other subjects such as science, art and english. At the beginning of each project, children are given the opportunity to convey what they know already, as well as what they would like to find out. This informs the learning journey and also ensures that lessons are relevant and take account of children’s differing experiences. Consideration is given to how new knowledge and skills will be taught and applied within each lesson, and how learners will be supported in line with our school’s commitment to inclusion. The local area is used to support the desired outcomes, with opportunities for learning outside the classroom embedded in practice. As children progress through the school, their local area study expands from our school grounds, through to Oliver’s Battery, South Winchester and then Winchester as a whole. In upper KS2, they also study the county of Hampshire and its links to the rest of the United Kingdom.

Impact:

At Oliver’s Battery, we value the importance of learning journeys, as these encourage the links between new and prior learning, which also accentuates the reasoning behind our curriculum. Our project books evidence a broad and balanced geography curriculum and demonstrate children’s acquisition of identified key knowledge. In every lesson, the learning objective is discussed and monitored in order to ensure all children make progress towards it. As our children progress throughout the school, we encourage them to develop knowledge, understanding and appreciation of their local area and its place within the wider geographical context. Evidence of this shines through during pupil conferencing sessions, in which children from across the school share their experiences of their geography projects. In all year groups, regular school trips provide further relevant and contextual learning, which is then celebrated on return to the classroom.