At Bolney our intent for teaching geography is that the children will gain a meaningful understanding of the world around them. Geography is an investigative subject and we encourage children to ask questions and seek answers.
Geography at Bolney provides opportunities to gather knowledge and transferable skills that deepen understanding and can be used in other contexts such as English, history, maths and science. We want our children to recognise the diversity of people, places, resources and natural and human environments. We aim for children to leave school with a deep understanding of Earth’s physical and natural processes.
Children having an investment in their learning is essential. Geography is taught through our characteristics based learning. This ensures coverage is in context and gives children enough time to learn and apply their skills. By having broad areas and questions such as ‘Why do we need rainforests?’ or teachers are able to tailor content to suit the needs and interests of the children. Whilst our geography objectives come from the national curriculum; geography lessons are led by children’s interests whenever possible. We start with what the children already know and build lessons based on what children need to know and want to find out.
Real life experiences such as trips and outdoor learning give children practical opportunities to embed skills such as map reading, using coordinates and observation. We also incorporate orienteering in PE and provide forest schools opportunities.
Geography work is presented in a variety of ways at Bolney. Research skills are developed further with children presenting work in different ways including the use of drama, computing/media, written work and through discussions. Collaborative work is an important aspect of geography and we ensure that verbal understanding, articulation and cooperation are valued when children are working in geography. Teachers assess progress using these outcomes along with our progression of skills document.