Geography at Westgate

At Westgate Primary School, through our Geography curriculum, we aim to expand geographical vocabulary, increase our children’s knowledge and curiosity of the wider world around them. We seek to create a life-long love of the subject, through teaching our children about diverse places, people and resources.

Through the study of natural and human environments, as well as physical and human processes, our desire is to provide our children with a sense of curiosity about the world they live in. As they continue on their journey of Geography, we aim to foster a deep understanding of the subject that develops alongside their geographical skills. Our aim is that our children go on to apply these skills across all subjects, as well as in their futures beyond Westgate.

Our curriculum is designed to provide our children with the subject specific language they need to describe, question and discuss the world, as well as their place in it. Our pupils are encouraged to recognise that they have a voice and to use it confidently to debate topics that they feel passionate about. We aim to produce well- rounded individuals by providing our children with opportunities to expand their cultural capital and experiences of the world.

 Our whole school focus on developing vocabulary underpins our vocabulary-rich Geography curriculum. Teachers use questioning, and provide opportunities for discussion and investigation to support the development of vocabulary, which is explicitly taught and modelled by teachers in every lesson. Key geographical knowledge and language (such as, the name and location of continents, countries, capital cities and oceans) is revisited frequently, to make learning memorable, relevant and easy to retrieve.

We will facilitate hands on experiences by providing the opportunity to explore and investigate their locality through fieldwork allowing the development of the skills and understanding required to collect, communicate and analyse information gathered whilst also interpreting a range of sources that will deepen their Geographical understanding. It is our intention for our children to ask questions, think critically, evaluate and draw conclusions about how the world works.

The impact of our Geography curriculum is measured in a variety of ways: questioning during lesson time, marking children’s written work, listening to child-led discussion, interviewing pupils across the school about their learning and book looks and using floor books to evidence practical learning.

By end of the Geography curriculum at Westgate, our children will:

· Have a growing knowledge of the world and their place in it.

· Have a wider vocabulary of geographical terms.

· Aspire to discover more about the world, through reading, travel or the media.

· Will be able to think like Geographers by drawing conclusions from a range of sources

· Know that they can use their voice to express themselves and their opinions.