Curriculum Lead: Kim Fenton
Being a Geographer
Intent:
At Bridge Learning Campus we are passionate about developing curious geographers who have a broad knowledge base to draw from and are equipped with the investigative skills needed to find out more. Our geography curriculum has been planned to empower children with knowledge about and respect for, diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes. Our teaching is grounded within the local area of Bristol, exploring Hartcliffe and beyond. Drawing on our local knowledge, geographers at BLC can compare and contrast their locality to other regions of the world, linked by trade, migration and shared history.
Implementation:
Informed by Lighting Up Learning’s enquiry-led curriculum framework, our geography curriculum is carefully designed to ensure that there is progression and full coverage of knowledge, concepts and skills which children can expand and build upon throughout their time at BLC. In order to support their place and locational knowledge, we are committed to taking our geographers outside their school environment to experience the wider world. This enhances their understanding of natural and human environments. To ensure geographical learning is inspiring, we immerse children in practical enquiries, which take them on a learning journey, supported by the development of a working wall and culminating in a final challenge, which the children graft towards to answer the enquiry question.
Impact:
We know that we have created successful Geographers if children dare to:
- Read a variety of maps, interpret geographical data and locate key physical and human features.
- Explain how key dynamic Earth processes (water cycle, volcanoes etc) occur.
- Describe an increasingly wider world using geographical terms: climate, topography, population etc.
- Explain Bristol’s links to the wider world and describe the similarities and differences between Bristol and regions of the world significant to the region as a result of trade and migration.
How we build the geography curriculum:
- Links to prior learning (year 3, 5, 6 child voice video, photo to show progression of map skills from floor book)
- Learning Journeys (all with geography as main or supporting state)
- Knowledge Organisers (all with geography as main or supporting state)
- Explicit vocabulary teaching – EYFS and Y1 bucket time (video), learning walls (photos), definition sheets (link to documents)
- Oracy – sentence stems (photos from classrooms), talk opportunities (videos year 1, 2, 4)
- Experiences (screenshots from ClassDojo)
- Retrieval quizzes (photos from books)
Knowledge Organisers
- Year 2 – How will we get around in the future?
- Year 2 – How are schools the same?
- Year 2 – What is home?
- Year 3 – What is underneath our feet?
- Year 4 – Where does our water come from?
- Year 5 – Where is our twin?
- Year 6 – Where does our food really come from?
Geography Enquiry Displays
