Geography

At Outwoods Primary School, we teach geography with an aim to inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. 

Geography teaching at Outwoods follows an enquiry approach which engages children with issues and questions which they themselves think are important and worthwhile. There should be practical activities in every lesson with planned opportunities for field work in every unit of work. There are suggested trips with a geography focus for Years 2, 3 and 5. Real world experiences help create lasting memories- even just going into the school grounds can offer experiences which stimulate their sense of awe and wonder. 

The Outwoods skills and content grid for geography has been designed to ensure there is clear progression of the skills and content outlined in the programmes of study of the National Curriculum. There are also separate grids for each year group and these should form the basis of teachers’ planning. There are unit titles, which are written as questions. As each unit is taught, teachers should highlight the skills and content grid to ensure that throughout the year, there is coverage of all the objectives. 

At the beginning of a new unit, the unit title question should be presented to the class, which will give an opportunity for discussion and an analysis of prior knowledge and experience. Each lesson within a unit should also begin with a question. Pupils should be taught the skills outlined in the grid for their year group, which will ultimately enable them to answer questions and solve problems. There should be a balance of core geographical knowledge with personal feelings and interpretations of place. The practical element of the lessons should be varied, using strategies that cater for pupils who learn in different ways. Teachers should make use of a variety of resources, including globes and atlases, local street plans, ordnance survey maps, the Internet and fieldwork equipment. Pupils should record their learning in a variety of ways, including maps, diagrams, written reports, digital presentations and creative responses such as work for display, making models, games or art work.

In addition to the time spent teaching the units of work (10-12 hours for a long unit, 4-6 hours for a short unit) there may be some incidental lessons to keep geography alive as things occur in the world around us. Some time should be spent revisiting prior learning, in order to consolidate the knowledge and skills taught, making use of the provided knowledge organisers.  

By the time our pupils leave Outwoods, our aim is to equip them with knowledge about diverse places, people and their cultures, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes. Geography education can help to show children how they can contribute to building a better world – a world in which fairness, sensitivity and kindness to each other and the environments that sustain us become our guiding values.