Geography

At Courthill Infant School we endeavour to inspire all pupils by creating curiosity and fascination about the world and its’ people. We do this by ensuring children leave us with the ‘Big Idea’ of knowing that they are part of a bigger world and that they can change the world by being cultural citizens. This is completed through the ‘Big Idea’ of sustainability and that we have limited resources that must be managed.  We ensure that the Geography curriculum is accessible to all pupils through differentiation for individual abilities with suitable challenges.  Key knowledge and skills have been identified in bold with the expectation that all pupils will achieve these outcomes by the end of the year.  We strive to address the key objectives through differentiated questioning, demonstrating and scaffolding, as well as using different approaches to teaching and learning to overcome barriers.

Our pupil’s start their geographical experience in Foundation where they are guided to make sense of their physical world and their community through opportunities to explore, observe and find out about people, places and the environment through both taught and child initiated sessions.

The children then build on their geographical skills in Key Stage 1 where they learn about their local area and compare their life in this area with that in other regions in the United Kingdom and in the rest of the world. They learn how to draw and interpret maps and they develop the skills of research, investigation, analysis and problem solving. Through their growing knowledge and understanding of human geography, children gain an appreciation of life in other cultures. Geography teaching also motivates children to find out about the physical world and enables them to recognise the importance of sustainable development for the future of humanity. Where appropriate, the Geography curriculum promotes key British Values so our children have exposure to a wide experience of local and global learning where there are opportunities for respect and tolerance when embracing differences within the world we live.

The specific aspects of this subject taught across Key Stage 1 are:

Locational knowledge, Place knowledge, Human and Physical Geography and Geographical Skills and Fieldwork.