Geography

At Oyster Park Primary Academy, it is our intention that Geography will inspire pupils with a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them throughout their lives. We aim to offer opportunities for children to explore the world in order to develop an understanding of the human and physical world in which they live in and their place within it. We aim to promote the children’s interest and understanding about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes. It is our intention that Geography will promote children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development helping them to have a greater understanding of their place in the world, and their rights and responsibilities to other people and the environment.  We encourage the children to ask questions about the world and provide opportunities for them to develop geographical skills and knowledge to be able to answer them. It is our intention that the Geography curriculum will be both stimulating and motivating in order to capture the pupil’s curiosity and fuel their motivation to learn. The pupils should be provided with exciting learning opportunities so as they enjoy acquiring and developing their skills and knowledge and perceive the world as an interesting place. With a solid foundation upon which they can continue to build their knowledge, we hope that the children will continue to have a curiosity of the world throughout their life.

In Geography, we cultivate a reading culture by exposing the children to a variety of genres through carefully planned activities. In EYFS the children read stories that are set in different countries around the world to ignite their curiosity of the world around them and use non-fiction books to learn about different countries. In Key Stage 1, the children develop their map reading skills through the use of atlases reading keys to interpret what a map is showing and to locate key features. Non-fiction books are used to allow the children to find out more information about places for example books about coastal areas in Year 1 and books about Australia and London in Year 2. Throughout Key stage 2 a range of non-fiction books are used to learn about countries around the world and to consolidate their understanding of key physical processes including earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis and mountains. They read newspaper articles and internet websites to identify the impact that physical processes can have upon an area and the people that live there. The children develop their skills in using contents pages and indexes to locate information at speed. Fiction books are used throughout school to explore key geographical concepts including climate change, looking after the environment and exploring diversity around the world.

Oracy is the ability to articulate ideas, develop understanding and engage with others through spoken language. In Geography Oracy is a powerful tool for learning. By teaching our pupils to become more effective speakers and listeners we aim to empower them to have a better understanding of themselves, each other and the key aspects of human and physical geography that shape the world around them.

At Oyster Park Primary Academy, we are aware that a child’s geographical ability and enquiring mind is not directly related to their writing or Mathematic ability. All children are given the opportunity to engage in enquiry-based learning within Geography where appropriate support and scaffolding is used to overcome any learning barriers. Key concepts are revisited regularly to support with the understanding and retention of knowledge and activities are effectively differentiated to ensure an appropriate level of challenge whilst allowing children to be successful. Child friendly knowledge organisers with visual prompts and visual word mats are provided for SEN children to support with acquiring new vocabulary and key knowledge is added to working walls for children to refer to within lessons to support their learning.