Rufford Park Primary School

Geography

At Rufford Park Primary School, we have an exciting, engaging geography curriculum rooted in our unique locality – the historic town of Yeadon and the beautiful county of West Yorkshire.

Our carefully sequenced lessons enable pupils to understand the relationships between places, the human and physical processes that shape them, and the people who live in them.

INTENT

Our principle aims for geography are to:

stimulate pupils’ interest in their local surroundings – and an understanding of how this compares to the variety of human and physical conditions across the UK and the world.
foster pupils’ sense of wonder at the beauty of the world around them – primarily through fieldwork.
help pupils to develop an informed concern about the quality of the environment and the future of our human habitat.
develop a strong core knowledge amongst our young learners of geographical facts – including the names of cities, countries, continents, oceans, mountains and rivers.
help our students to develop confidence using a variety of geographical resources – including globes, atlases, OS maps, compasses and digital technology (such as Google Earth).
invite engaging visitors to Rufford Park, who may inspire the children to consider geography-related careers in the future – such as climate scientist Dr David Jones, mountaineer Dave Bunting MBE, Maya archaeologist Dr Diane Davies or Mimika Theatre.
encourage children to enjoy asking and answering questions about the world around them – through enquiry-based learning.

IMPLEMENTATION

We believe that geography lessons should pose questions and provide answers about the world we live in. We strongly believe that high quality teaching of geography offers our pupils the foundations for a greater understanding and knowledge of the world, as well as their place in it.

The geography curriculum enables our pupils to develop knowledge and progressive skills that are transferable to other curriculum areas. Our aim is to allow pupils to know more, remember more, and understand more. Geography is an investigative subject, which develops an understanding of concepts, knowledge and skills. We seek to inspire in children a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people which will remain with them for the rest of their lives; to promote the pupils’ interest and understanding of diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes.

Geography is taught as part of a topic to enable contextual learning. Our school curriculum maps provide details of our topics over a 2-year rolling programme, and when these are taught. They also outline the key concepts that children must learn before moving onto their next phase of learning.

Pupils will access a range of resources to acquire learning through the use of globes, atlases, OS maps, compasses, books, photographs and digital technology. Google Earth maps and satellite view are often used initially to add immediacy and a real-life context to lessons – with children having the opportunity to ‘go for a walk’ in Egypt, India and other locations around the world with the use of Google Street View.

We also provide a variety of opportunities for geography learning outside the classroom. Rufford Park pupils explore the geographical features of our local area and further afield – including the award-winning Nell Bank outdoor learning centre, Otley Chevin, Ilkley Moor, Filey beach, Bolton Abbey, Tropical World in Roundhay and Pete Rigg Outdoor Training Centre. As part of the geography curriculum, children are often the opportunity to take part in residentials in Year 4 and Year 6 – enabling them to develop their orienteering and map-reading skills in a fun, exciting environment.

Enquiry lessons play an important part in our curriculum. Our children generate their own questions and may find answers to them by contacting children in other countries around the UK and the world. In recent years, we have linked up with schools in London, Portugal, Zambia (Africa topic) and Guatemala (‘Rainforests and the Ancient Maya’ topic). You can read our interview with a modern Maya school here (their playground is situated in sight of an active volcano!).

We also place a high importance on the acquisition of core geographical facts – including the names of cities, countries, continents, oceans, mountains and rivers. This may be through fun classroom games, topic-linked lessons or enquiry lessons.

IMPACT

Outcomes in written work and ‘pupil voice’ interviews conducted by our geography coordinator, evidence a broad and balanced geography curriculum and demonstrates the children’s attainment of identified key knowledge. Pupils’ work shows that geography is taught at an age-appropriate standard across each phase. Work is of a high standard and shows that pupils are acquiring knowledge, skills and vocabulary in an appropriate sequence. Emphasis is placed on analytical thinking and questioning which helps pupils gain a clear knowledge and understanding of our locality, as well as the wider world. School trips provide further relevant and contextual learning. Pupil voice interviews demonstrate that pupils enjoy geography – particularly fieldwork – and are beginning to recall their learning over time.

The impact of our geography curriculum is that our learners are equipped with the geographical skills and knowledge that will enable them to be ready for the secondary curriculum and for life in the wider world.