Geography
“Geographers never get lost. They just do accidental field work.”- Nicholas Chrisman
Welcome to Geography at Acklam Whin
At Acklam Whin, we want to develop children’s curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. Students learn to understand the world, its environments and places near and far as well as the processes that create and affect the world. We provide them with the opportunity to think like geographers by exploring and discovering the world around them from their classroom, as well as through fieldwork and educational visits. Through stimulating and motivating learning opportunities, students are encouraged to perceive the world as an interesting place to discover and one that they wish to protect. We are committed to helping students to develop a real sense of who they are and an understanding of the heritage of where they live, exploring what makes our local area unique and special..
Our Approach
An integral part of our curriculum is our enquiry-based approach that supports the development of geographical skills and concepts. Each lesson is centred around an enquiry question which feeds into the overarching enquiry question for the unit of learning. Topic-specific vocabulary is taught each lesson and knowledge organisers are used to successfully support the students in using this new terminology to articulate their thoughts and understanding of geographical concepts clearly.
By the end of Key Stage 2, students will have experienced deep learning in
- Locational knowledge
- Place knowledge
- Human and physical geography
- Geographical skills and fieldwork
Students learn how to think, speak and work ‘like a geographer’ by developing their geographical skills over time through a variety of fieldwork activities that follow our Acklam Whin Enquiry Cycle and link to learning that has happened within the classroom. Our Geography Curriculum is further enriched through sessions throughout the year in the Outdoor Classroom.
Laying the Foundations
At Acklam Whin, we begin to nurture natural curiosity, questioning, and observation skills in our Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) children. Understanding the World is one of the specific areas of the EYFS curriculum which enables the children to explore their local area and beyond through experiences, discussions, observations, stories and maps. Through this exploration, children are able to describe their immediate environments; explain similarities and differences between life in this country and life in other countries; and know some similarities and differences between the natural world around them and contrasting environments. This foundational knowledge and skills become stepping stones that are essential for our children’s future learning in geography.
Big Ideas
All lessons throughout the Acklam Whin Geography curriculum link to at least one of our ‘Geography Big Ideas’: location, physical geography, climate, human geography, sustainability, and culture and diversity. As these ideas are revisited, pupils recall and build upon their prior learning to develop rich schema over time. Students are able to connect these ideas to prior learning in previous year groups and key stages using our Acklam Whin Geography Road Map.
Knowing more, Remembering more
At Acklam Whin, achievement is defined as children being able to know more, remember more and do more. We are committed to ensuring that our students make excellent progress across the geography curriculum through regular assessments of both knowledge and skills. Units of work are carefully planned to ensure they review and build upon prior knowledge within meaningful, exciting contexts so that student’s knowledge ‘sticks’ in their long-term memory, ensuring they can access it both now and in future years. Students also demonstrate their geographical skills through regular opportunities to participate in fieldwork both in the local area and further afield, during which they investigate the answers to geographical questions.
