In Geography at Paddox, we stimulate our children’s curiosity and their inquisitive nature about the world’s people, places and environment and how these interact with each other.
Through fieldwork, research, real-life case studies and map skills, Geography lessons dive into a variety of topics which aim to provide the children with an awareness of what it means to have a sustainable society alongside developing their locational understanding. This wealth of geographical experiences enables the children to make deep, meaningful connections between themselves, others and the world enabling the children to ‘Learn more…Remember more’.
Our aim is to ensure that each child develops their geographical skills through exploring different locations, both locally and globally, as well as appreciating the cause and impact of human activities. Geography lessons capture our school REACH values and require the children to work hard, achieve to the best of their ability and respect others and the environment.
The study of geography at our school focuses on exploring the interactions between people and their environments, preparing pupils for a future world of 11 billion people filled with opportunities and challenges. Our geography curriculum is designed to be aspirational, relevant and inclusive, ensuring that all pupils can achieve high levels of success while mastering core geographical skills. It features a broad and balanced content selection aligned with the National Curriculum, incorporating both physical and human investigations. The curriculum is sequenced to build on prior knowledge, progressively increasing in complexity from Year 1 to Year 6, allowing pupils to deepen their understanding through interconnected enquiries. Additionally, it maintains continuity with the Early Years Foundation Stage and accommodates diverse learning needs through differentiated support and activities.
At our school, we take an enquiry-focused approach to geography that develops children as young geographers. Through these enquiries, students build subject knowledge, critical thinking skills, specialised vocabulary, and conceptual understanding. Our geography curriculum is knowledge-rich, structured around big questions about relevant topics, places, and themes, rather than being overly content-heavy. We provide immersive, interactive, and practical learning experiences that allow students to acquire new knowledge, develop subject concepts, and apply their skills. Learning activities include a variety of formats, such as fieldworks, mysteries, maps, GIS, puzzles, and drama, with students recording their work through diverse methods. Each enquiry scheme develops the children’s knowledge which means it becomes embedded and allows the pupils to build on their understanding from one lesson to the next as well as one year to the next.
Our geography curriculum is structured around clear learning objectives and expected outcomes for both knowledge, understanding and skills acquisition. The schemes of work offers a a range of assessment methods, including observing student interactions, practical activities, fieldwork data, and written work in diverse genres. These inform teacher’s understanding of each student’s progress and guide future learning. Rather than making summative judgments on individual assignments, we evaluate the cumulative evidence to determine a ‘best fit’ assessment of the student’s progress towards the expected annual learning goals for geography − whether they have achieved, exceeded, or are still working towards those goals.