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.’

Barak Obama

At Holmesdale we want our children to see themselves as Geographers. Our Curriculum has been designed to develop children’s curiosity and fascination about our dynamic and ever-changing planet. We want our children to develop a strong sense of their place within the world, by exploring their environment at school, the local community of Reigate, that of Britain and then the wider world. Our pupils will explore the subject through an experience and vocabulary rich, enquiry-based Curriculum that rehearses previous learning, addresses misconceptions and builds upon what they already know. Our aim is that our pupils will develop a secure knowledge and understanding of the world within which they live, by learning about their locality and the United Kingdom. They will be motivated to learn about the differences and similarities between places, people and environments; learning about seasonal changes, our planet’s human and physical features as well as our diverse and culturally rich society. In gaining an understanding about environmental change and the impact we are having upon the world, our children will become thinkers, creators and future makers.

Geography at Holmesdale

As a staff we agree that when planning or delivering Geography lessons, we will ensure

• a clear planning sequence that is both achievable yet challenging
• teachers carefully plan a sequence of lessons with a clear end point in mind
• teachers plan and teach with high expectations for outcomes of the children, with scaffolds which enable everyone to access the learning
• lessons begin with a ‘sticky starter’ which enable the children to recall geographical knowledge, skills and vocabulary from the previous week, previous unit and previous year
• each geographical unit of work has overarching enquiry questions which are addressed and answered through a series of hands-on learning opportunities
• we enable our children to be Geographers by using our school grounds and local area wherever we can
• the children have the opportunity to analyse, question and debate human impact and environmental change in an age-appropriate way that focuses upon what we can do to ‘make a difference’
• all children have the opportunity to experience field work and take part in visits and workshops
• each class provide the children with a visible learning journey across a unit of work through either displays or ‘floor books’ (KS1) that record the key learning that has taken place
• sequences of lessons offer many opportunities for the oral rehearsal of new geographical language
• children are given the opportunity to reflect upon their learning, to share their opinions or ask questions for further enquiry

As with all areas of our curriculum, we have drawn on research evidence to shape our teaching and learning pedagogy. For more information, please see our Greensand Pace Model.