At Rise Park we want a geography curriculum that excites children as they develop a greater knowledge of the world, their impact on it and build their understanding of the diversity of places, people and processes.
Key skills and knowledge are delivered through a variety of exciting topics all of which begin with a hook designed to capture children’s interest and generate questions. We stimulate learning through carefully selected Big Questions which form the basis for our curriculum delivery.
Each class displays a world map and everyone has access to a range of atlases and online maps which can be called upon to support geography in the classroom and as part of day to day discussions.
Children begin in the Early Years and year one developing their understanding of the world around them by exploring the school site and local area before moving on to look at the 4 countries of the United Kingdom. Year 2 develop their understanding of world geography with continents and oceans and undertake a comparison study of a non-European location.
In lower key stage two we embed this world knowledge while focussing on the wider world and begin to look at the United Kingdom in detail comparing villages, towns and cities.
In upper key stage two locational knowledge is further developed with a study of Europe and the impacts of human and physical geography are discussed with a study of South America’s rainforests and the impact of volcanoes and earthquakes around the world.
In each unit staff identify the key vocabulary, ensuring that our children develop a rich geographical vocabulary over their time with us. This is supported by the consistent use of symbols making our vocabulary accessible for all.
Children complete pre-assessments which assess both existing knowledge linked to a topic, as well as retention from previous learning. This allows teachers to adapt teaching and learning to meet the needs of individual learners. Flashback retrieval sessions start each lesson, focusing on retention of prior learning and key knowledge. Post- assessments are completed at the end of each unit of learning and are self-assessed by the children, allowing misconceptions to be addressed and explained.
A Big Question for each geography unit is at the centre of our curriculum design, inspiring discussion within each lesson and enabling the children to apply their learning as they answer the Big Question at the end of the topic.
