Geography

Intent

At Kingmoor Nursery and Infant School, Geography allows children to explore, appreciate and understand the world around them. Through enquiry based learning, children are inspired to become curious about the world and the people in it. By starting with their immediate environment, children are given first hand experiences to be able to question and investigate their own world before exploring their geographical skills through the wider world. Children will learn how their environment impacts their lives and the impact their lives have on the environment giving them the foundations to become responsible global citizens.

Implementation

Geography is the study of places and the relationship between people and their environments.

Geography Quality Mark

We are proud to hold the Gold Geography Quality Mark which celebrates the geography that happens throughout the school.

Geography in the School Grounds, Local Environment and The Wider World

Teaching Geography through the children’s immediate environment gives the children first hand experiences and by investigating these personal places, the children are encouraged to share their experiences, observations and knowledge, develop skills of investigation and ask and answer questions. This starts with the school itself! Children have the opportunity to look for human and physical features in their own environment and develop their mapping skills by drawing maps of the school and the grounds.  We are lucky to have Kingmoor Nature Reserve just a short walk away, the children are able to explore and develop their fieldwork skills in our local environment, with frequent trips to the woods from Reception to Year 2.

It is important to provide children with opportunities to investigate and make enquiries about their local area, helping them develop of real sense of who they are, their heritage and what makes our local area unique and special.

As the children develop a sense of their world, opportunities are extended giving children new experiences through school trips to places like Caerlaverock Wetland Centre and Silloth to visit the seaside.

As their learning continues and they start learning about the wider world, these experiences enable children to use concrete knowledge to make links when starting to learn about more abstract concepts.   

Geographical knowledge and skills are taught progressively building on skills in Nursery right through to the end of Year 2, deepening understanding and embedding knowledge.

Early Years

The Early Years, Geography is taught through the Understanding the World (UTW) area of learning as part of the Early Years Foundation Stage. Knowledge is planned progressively to ensure children revisit and embed key knowledge and learn in a language rich environment. The classroom environment allows them access to maps, globes and first hand experiences both indoors and outdoors. 

Key Stage 1

The curriculum is planned progressively using the CUSP curriculum, which builds on and embeds both substantive and disciplinary knowledge including;

Location Knowledge

Place Knowledge

Human and Physical Geography

Geographical Skills and Fieldwork.

Mental Health and Wellbeing

At our school we: 

• help children to understand their emotions and feelings better
• help children feel comfortable sharing any concerns or worries
• help children socially to form and maintain relationships.
• promote self esteem and ensure children know that they count.
•  encourage children to be confident and unique
• help children to develop emotional resilience and to manage setbacks. 
• Provide children with opportunities to build skills and habits which contribute to good Mental Health and wellbeing.
• Provide Pupil, staff and families with a safe, secure, reliable and accepting environment .
• Provide staff with the emotional support and flexibility required to enable a positive working environment.

We promote a mentally healthy environment through:

• Promoting our school values and encouraging a sense of belonging.
• Promoting pupil, parent and staff voice  resulting in opportunities to participate in decision-making.
• Celebrating academic and non-academic achievements
• Providing opportunities to develop a sense of worth through taking responsibility for themselves and others
• Providing opportunities to reflect.
• Access to appropriate support that meets pupils and staff needs
• Ensuring our staff receive appropriate training and support to enable them to work to the best of their abilities and to meet the diverse needs of pupils.

Impact

• We will be able to see that the children know more and remember more in Geography, through evidence in their Geography Books( Pupil Book Study) and pupil voice.
• We will also see that they are able to recall prior learning and apply it.
• Children will start their next year of learning with the necessary skills and knowledge to build upon. 
• The impact of our Geography curriculum is that children at Nursery and Infant School are able to talk confidently with empathy about the world in which they live, making links to Carlisle/Cumbria and the wider world using the correct geographical vocabulary to describe the similarities and differences in physical and human features. 
• The children show curiosity about our world and the people who live in it and are equipped with the skills and knowledge necessary for the next step in their learning.

Enrichment

Curriculum Progression and Sequencing