Six fundamental concepts are driving the Primary Geography curriculum at Meridian Trust.
Scale, Place, Space, Environment, Interconnections, and Physical and Human Resources are referred to in each lesson, as primary-aged pupils are asked to consider which aspect of geographical thought their current learning links to. Children are also encouraged to refer to the language of these key concepts and prompted through questioning to think like a geographer building their disciplinary knowledge.
The children’s learning journey in Geography begins in Reception where classroom adults help pupils to understand their locality, the wider world and geographical phenomena such as weather and seasons. They do not have explicit Geography lessons, but there are many links to the discipline of Geography particularly in the Early Learning Goals of Understanding the World and Communication and Language.
The key concepts are also present in the Reception learning environment right across the Trust so, as they continue to be explored and referred to through modelling, teaching and by the children in verbal discussions throughout KS1, and become more embedded as young learners move through KS2, they can become an automatic vehicle through which they can frame their Geography learning ready for KS3.
As they progress through KS1, the children’s explicit understanding of their Geography learning develops. Their understanding of the world around them and their place in it evolves as they consider more about their own locality and country and then compare their lives and geographical surroundings to people and places across the world. Learning encompasses opportunities for fieldwork, research and comparisons.
Moving through KS2, pupils consider their new and growing knowledge against the contexts of their own growing understanding of the world and their place in it. They make links between the geographical data, knowledge and skills they continue to expand and their own embedded knowledge, and they are invited increasingly to think about the responsibility they have in relation to conservation, protection and the future.
Progression across each phase (Reception / KS1 / LKS2 / UKS2) is considered long-term across six units in any two-year cycle for the age group ensuring the children are ready for the next phase. As children move into years 5 and 6 they have an increasingly wider and broader knowledge base upon which to build compare and make connections given the larger extent of their previous learning, preparing them for KS3.
“Uppermost in our thinking has been what could or should Geography look like, what do we want from learning, and, at the core, what is Geography?” explained the Trust’s primary Geography subject lead Jemma Batters, a class teacher and Year 3/4 phase leader at Histon & Impington Brook Primary School. “Curriculum creation has involved setting a clear vision for Geography, establishing long-term cycles, and the principle of embedding and building on knowledge to make remembered knowledge.
“It is centred around delivering lessons that increase and build on what the children know, allowing them chances to do a variety of different things with that knowledge and apply it to new contexts. We help the children remember what they know and actively recall previous knowledge to make more sense of the new knowledge through a combination of spaced retrieval, retrieval practice, recap slides, reflection questions and enquiry-led units of learning.
“As pupils progress through KS1 and KS2, subject units are structured to enable them to build up knowledge and understanding over time, which enables them to reflect on previously taught units and so revisit and embed their learning as they draw comparisons. Both substantive and disciplinary knowledge is taught to develop children’s geographical understanding.”
Medium-term plans have been developed for each unit, but within all taught themes local, regional, national and global geographical knowledge is explored. “For example, Year 1 children have a Caribbean unit which makes explicit links to the UK, considering the island concept, thinking about land mass and water, so going from global to local,” Jemma said. “Enjoyment is really important, as is engagement beyond understanding what Geography itself is because there are many aspects to it. So whilst we push disciplinary knowledge in the subject, Geography has so many links to other areas too, for example, science, ecology, and economics. There is no single idea around children comprehending what geography is.
“We also want children to take ownership of their role in the world. Growing their awareness of the world, their interaction and co-dependencies, and both their impact on the world and the impact the world can have on them as people.”
Jemma, who completed an NPQ in Leading Teaching in February and is a current SCITT mentor as well as leading primary Geography for trainee teachers, said that plans over the next 12 months included making the curriculum “more shareable in school-specific settings.”
She revealed: “The structure of vital core learning – the disciplinary and substantive core knowledge – is there now. This has been shared with the whole Trust, and specific CPD delivered on what we should be doing and why, the delivery by teaching leads on substantive and disciplinary knowledge, core concepts and links to prior learning which can be taken and adapted to each local context. The next phase we see as being more organic, working with schools to get input and feedback from teachers, leading to adaptation in each unit and bringing extra quality of teaching that benefits the children.”