Geography at Shakespeare Infant School

Intent

To appreciate the awe and wonder of the world is what drives Geography at Shakespeare Infant School. Our intent is to inspire our children to be spiritual learners, therefore having a curiosity and fascination about the world around them and the people living in it. The children will have an inner strength and strive to make sense of the world and their place in it.

Geography is, by nature, an investigative subject, which develops an understanding of concepts, knowledge and skills. We will equip our children with knowledge about different places, resources and natural or human environments. This knowledge will underpin the skills the children will need to see themselves as geographers, in order to be able to gain a deeper understanding of the physical and human processes of the Earth. As children progress through the school, their growing knowledge about the world helps them to deepen their understanding of this interaction between physical and human processes, and of the formation and use of landscapes and environments. Geographical knowledge and skills are progressive and are sequenced to provide the framework and approaches that provide explanation of how the Earth’s features at different scales are shaped, interconnected and change over time.

We take pride in our integrated, inclusive approach, which enables all children to access rich and engaging learning opportunities. The children at Shakespeare Infant School are offered a wide range of meaningful experiences, which open up a wider world and its mysteries, envelop the senses and celebrate the wonder of life being. This enables them to have key knowledge and skills embedded into their minds, which will support them through their growth in the future.

Our children will leave Shakespeare Infant School at the end of Year 2 understanding how complex the world around them truly is. They will have nurtured a sense of amazement, wonder and inspiration.

Implementation

Due to our integrated curriculum, geography is effectively taught across all year groups, enabling our children to develop as inquisitive geographers.

Geography is planned into projects as either a lead subject, an applied subject or a more broadly associated subject. Cross curricular outcomes in geography are specifically planned for, with strong links between geography and literacy lessons identified, planned for and utilised. The local area is fully taken advantage of and engaging projects are planned to help achieve the desired outcomes, with extensive experiences for learning outside the classroom embedded in practice. This allows our children to truly retain what they have learnt, which heightens their curiosity of the world around them. All the children are then able to discuss their own independent thoughts and ideas.

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Our children are given various opportunities to observe and interpret a range of sources such as maps (both online and physical), aerial photographs and their own first hand experiences from field work. Children are taught the differences between their area and other places both in the UK and abroad, allowing them to develop their knowledge of the world at different scales: locally, nationally and internationally.

Pupils learn the difference between human and physical features, strengthening their understanding and vocabulary by linking it to our own school grounds. All the children at Shakespeare Infant school are extremely conscious and respectful towards the reality how other people and places might be different to what they know and are familiar with. This allows them to make connections, whilst considering their rights and responsibilities in the world both towards other people and the environment in which they live.

Additionally in each year group, children participate in longitudinal studies across the school year. This gives children an excellent opportunity to deepen their knowledge of seasonal variations in weather as well as to develop their fieldwork skills when collecting, analysing and evaluating data. As part of their daily routines, the children observe the weather regularly to look at how it changes our landscape. They also discuss and respond to geographical news in this country and all around the world.

To enable our children to be authentic spiritual learners, at Shakespeare Infant School, we ensure our projects and outcomes have meaning to the children and are relevant to the constant changing world around us.

Fun Fact Friday! 

Every Friday, the Geography display in school gets updated with a brand new, exciting fact. This week: 

Did you know:

Asia is the largest continent in size. Almost 4.6 billion people live in Asia. 

Can you:

Find Asia using the map below.