Geography
The study of geography is about more than just memorising places on a map. It's about understanding the complexity of our world, appreciating the diversity of cultures that exists across continents. And in the end, it's about using all that knowledge to help bridge divides and bring people together.
Barack Obama
What is Geography?
Geography is the study of places and the relationships between people and their environments. Geographers explore both the physical properties of Earth’s surface and the human societies spread across it. They also examine how human culture interacts with the natural environment and the way that locations and places can have an impact on people. Geography seeks to understand where things are found, why they are there and how they develop and change over time.
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/geography/
Why do we study Geography?
Geography’s fundamental role lies in helping children to understand the world, its environments and places near and far, and the processes that create and affect them. It encourages a holistic appreciation of how the world works and of the interconnections between concepts such as scale, community, cultural diversity, interdependence and sustainability. Geography is a subject that contextualises and extends the possibilities for developing and applying language and mathematics, and enriches understanding of, and in, subjects from science and history to art and design.
The National curriculum states the purpose of geographical study is to:
Inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. Teaching should equip pupils 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. As pupils progress, their growing knowledge about the world should help them to deepen their understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes, and of the formation and use of landscapes and environments. Geographical knowledge, understanding and skills provide the frameworks and approaches that explain how the Earth’s features at different scales are shaped, interconnected and change over time.
Through their study of the Opossum Geography curriculum, we intend that pupils will:
1. Develop locational and place knowledge through local, national and global studies
2. Gain knowledge beyond their experience
3. Understand the links between physical and human geography
4. Develop an enquiring and analytical mind
5. Acquire geographical vocabulary
6. Become global citizens who will be aware of and take action on local, national and global issues
Opossum Values
Through their study of the world and its people, Opossum values are realised.
Being Respectful - demonstrating respect for the viewpoints of others by listening courteously and debating respectfully.
Being Aspirational – an expectation that pupils are capable of research, discussion, debate and opinion on complex topics
Being Caring – developing concern for the world in which they live, seeking opportunities to positively impact the environment in which they live
Having Integrity - Seeking truth by considering and critically analysing geographical information
Being Creative – using creative skills to communicate geographical information
Being Community Minded – recognise that their actions have a local, national and global impact
Scope and sequence
The Opossum Geography curriculum starts with the familiar and slowly builds outwards, from London to the UK, to Europe, to South America. Pupil’s understanding of how their local area fits into the wider world is therefore gradually accrued. Knowledge and understanding of the local area begins in EYFS, with pupils becoming familiar with their immediate surroundings and how these are connected to them. By using London as a starting point for geographical learning in KS1, it supports pupils’ understanding of both place and scale by beginning locally and scaling out into England and the other UK regions of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The curriculum has been carefully planned to include learning which relates to their geographical context. For example, within the Y6 topic of Migration, pupils will learn about the importance of migration to their local area, London and the UK as a whole. This supports pupils’ knowledge and understanding of how migration has shaped the city in which they live today- a key principle for London residents.
Pupils also have the opportunity to explore areas which will broaden their experience e.g. they will learn about rural and coastal areas in Y2 and Y3 and will learn about different countries which have differing cultural perspectives from the one in which they live. In Y3, using the context of food to explore trade links and land use, enables children to begin at a personal scale (the food on their plate) before widening their perspective on how food is grown and transported locally, regionally and globally.
Fieldwork has also been carefully planned to ensure that pupils ‘think and act’ like a geographer, supporting them in their transition to secondary school. Fieldwork is threaded throughout a variety of units at all key stages.
EYFS
Learning in the EYFS forms the bedrock of the Geography curriculum. The ‘Understanding the World’ area of the EYFS framework aligns closely with the Geography curriculum for KS1 and 2. However, it is very difficult to imagine developing knowledge and understanding of the world in isolation, without simultaneously and symbiotically developing the other six areas. Pupils learn a whole range of highly transferable skills, values and attributes (including: problem-solving, observation, collaboration, open-mindedness, courage, resilience, curiosity, integrity, and a sense of what is fair and equitable) that combine to allow them to explore and interpret the world around them. When providing a context for learning there is invariably a spatial dimension at a practical level, with teachers setting up learning zones such as a ‘mud kitchen’, ‘role-play area’ or ‘construction corner’. These enable pupils to transport themselves at an imaginary level, with these areas, in effect, acting as portals into the spaces, places and times within each pupil’s imagination, allowing them to construct their own individual and collaborative learning story.
By learning ‘All About Me’, the concept of scale and cultural understanding and diversity can be introduced, as well as developing an awareness of their locality (school community). Cultural awareness and diversity is further developed through their learning on ‘Festival and Celebrations’ Geographical skills and fieldwork are introduced in the ‘We are Explorers’ and ‘Animals’ topic as pupils explore their local area and habitats.
Key Stage 1
Learning in KS1 builds on EYFS experience. The concepts of scale and place are developed through pupils’ learning, firstly through learning about their local area, followed by studying the country in which they live and then a study of the UK. Pupils will leave KS1 with a secure knowledge of their local area, the UK and continents and oceans of the world, key foundations for geography learning in KS2 and beyond.
Key Stage 2
Key geographical knowledge, skills and concepts
Learning in KS2 is built upon the development of key geographical knowledge and skills which include the following:
- Locational knowledge
- Place knowledge
- Human and Physical Geography
- Geographical skills
- Fieldwork
These are underpinned by the key geographical concepts of scale, place, physical and human processes, cultural understanding and diversity, environmental interaction and sustainable development. These concepts provide the framework for organising the knowledge that is taught within the geography curriculum at Opossum schools.
Scale: pupils investigate geography at a range of scales. Virtually any topic, when studied geographically, benefits from a 'scaled' approach. Scale influences the way we represent what we see or experience. We can select different scales from the personal, local and regional to the global. In between, we have the national and international scales, which are politically important, when studying geography at a higher level.
Place: studying real places is an essential context for developing geographical enquiries. A place is a space that carries meaning, often through human occupation or by human interpretation. Every place has a particular location and a unique set of physical and human characteristics. These include what a place is like, how it became like this and how it is subject to forces for change.
Physical and Human Processes: geographical enquiries utilise physical and human processes that cause change and development in places, when seeking explanations for patterns and distributions. Pupils make progress by deepening and broadening their understanding of such processes and in so doing enhance their capacity to envision alternative futures for places, and the people who live and work in them.
Cultural Understanding and Diversity: geography is fundamentally concerned with the diversity of people and places on the planet. It is important to explore this with pupils in geography, not to 'show them' the world but to explore it using geographical enquiry, focusing on how people and places are represented in different ways.
Environmental Interaction and Sustainable Development: acceptance of the dynamic interrelationships between physical and human accounts of the world is central to school geography, the distinctive power of the subject lies in the realisation that 'making sense of the world' is often enhanced by a synthesis of perspectives and understanding across at least three areas of concern:
- Social fairness and justice
- Economic prosperity
- Environmental quality
The interaction of these fundamental motivations provides the basis for geographical study of 'the environment'. Thus, geographical perspectives are central to understanding 'sustainable development'.
