Intent

In the South Hams Federation we aim to promote a lifelong love for learning about the world, equipping all children, regardless of their background, with:

• Relevant and coherent substantive knowledge of the world, which is built gradually using subject-specific pedagogy from EYFS to Year 6 and beyond. 
• Substantive knowledge – both conceptual and procedural – which is selected to build pupils’ understanding of three geographical vertical concepts: 

Space and Place - 

• Developing an understanding of space through ideas related to location, distribution, pattern and distance.
• Developing a sense of place and character through ideas related to identity, home, community, landscapes and diversity, and examining a range of case studies from across the globe.

Physical Processes - 

• How the Earth’s natural processes shape and change the surface of the Earth. This includes both Geology & Earth Science aspects, such as the structure of the Earth and physical features we see on the land, as well as Environmental Science aspects, such as the weather and our changing climate. Both of these are threaded through the science curriculum too.

Human Processes -

• The processes and phenomena that are caused by or relate to people, including our Use of Resources; the distribution and changes to the Population & Communities; and the features of the Economy & Development.
• A balanced view of the countries of the world, which develops a sense of place and an appreciation and respect for life in other cultures and places, as well as addressing or even preempting misconceptions and negative stereotypes.  
• Explicit teaching of core disciplinary knowledge, and the ability to approach challenging, geographically-valid questions. 
• Opportunities to undertake fieldwork, outside the classroom and virtually. Fieldwork is purposeful, and either gives pupils the opportunity to put into practice relevant disciplinary knowledge or to reinforce their substantive knowledge.

Overall, we strive to achieve the aims of the National Curriculum (Locational knowledge – Place knowledge – Human and physical geography – Geography skills and fieldwork), and inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about people and places in our world, enabling them to recognise the importance of sustainable development for the future of mankind. 

As a Federation, we are committed to ensuring that children are able to recognise the importance of geography in the wider world and that they are also able to use their geographical skills and knowledge confidently in their lives in a range of different contexts. We intend to build knowledge, skills and understanding by revisiting at regular intervals and providing pupils with the opportunity to refresh and rehearse them through practice, consolidating and deepening at every age and stage.

The intention of teaching for mastery is to give all pupils (including those with SEND) access to equitable classrooms; classrooms where pupils can all participate and be influential, and classrooms where pupils are encouraged and supported to develop a deep connected and sustained understanding of the geography being explored. 

A discursive approach 

We are passionate that children should be encouraged to be active and equitable participants in geography lessons. Our intention is for pupils to feel valued as part of a geography community. Pupils feel comfortable to share their thinking and take part even when they feel unsure. Children are encouraged to question one another; agree and disagree by justifying their decisions and work together collaboratively. 

Diversity and inclusion

Our geography curriculum reflects a balanced view of countries of the world, to address or even preempt misconceptions and negative stereotypes. 

Ethos and Growth Mindset

Instilling all our pupils with a 'growth mindset' during geography lessons is a key priority for our school and we have actively promoted this with the children. In geography lessons, children are expected to relish challenges; embrace their mistakes as part of the learning process; value the importance of effort; respond carefully to feedback and take inspiration from others. We believe in challenge and have a high expectation of pupil’s response to challenge. We are also helping our children to develop their metacognition, ensuring key concepts are embedded in their long-term memory by connecting new knowledge (working memory) with their existing knowledge (long-term memory). 

Depth of learning

We have ensured that teachers are aware of and cater for the need for depth of learning as an essential part of geography. Lessons build on geographical concepts across a time period and teachers make links across geographical topics and are continuing to develop variation in their teaching to maximise clarity and depth of learning. We maintain on-going formative assessment that recognises depth and breadth of understanding. 

Cultural capital

Cultural capital is about preparing children with the essential knowledge and skills for what comes next. Through the exploration of new skills and experiences we help to nurture resilience, curiosity and creativity. Through this journey children develop new forms of cultural capital that makes a difference in individual mind-sets, which consequently shapes their future.
 

Implementation

“Good quality teaching takes into account all children in the class and plans small enough steps for the vast majority of children to achieve success with scaffolding and support, and for others to be challenged in the same concept to a greater depth of reasoning.” (EEF)

Planning

Planning follows the Curriculum Map and is in line with the National Curriculum Programme of Study for each year group. Curriculum coverage as well as depth of learning are key drivers for planning. We ensure carefully planned and clear progression of geographical knowledge and skills across EYFS, KS1 and KS2. 

Geographical content is always carefully situated within existing schemas. For example, concepts of map skills are built on methodically and logically over time through careful planning. In early years pupils begin to identify features of their local area; in KS1, pupils apply directional vocabulary to features; and by KS2, pupils use map symbols and grid references on OS maps to describe the locations of features. 

All pupils within the South Hams Federation schools will be working on the same focus with different support provided to enable pupils to access the geography independently. Teaching is responsive and adaptable, with clear progression in steps between lessons that is driven from the children’s learning. Through reflective teaching, the vast majority of each cohort will be moving through the content at the broadly the same pace.

Retrieval practice

As a Federation, we have developed our understanding and use of a variety of pedagogical approaches that focus on how children learn. We believe that these approaches enhance and develop our approach to teaching. We are using the 10 principles of Instruction (Rosenshine) to underpin our planning; specifically carefully planning opportunities for retrieval through the use of carefully scaffolded questioning. We understand that with retrieval practice, regularly visiting areas already learnt before, helps to connect new ideas to ones that are already known. Knowledge organisers are used as a metacognitive tool, making the core knowledge and geographical vocabulary explicit for each topic, whilst developing cultural capital. They are used regularly for formative assessment strategies, including quizzing to help pupils boost their recall of core knowledge and facts. 

In Geography, vertical concepts are used within lessons to connect aspects of learning. For example, when learning about migration, pupils will review population structures, natural hazards and types of settlement when considering the reasons why people voluntarily or forcibly move from one place to another.

Small step learning and mastery pedagogy 

Pedagogy at the South Hams Federation schools focuses on breaking down learning into small steps and utilising teaching for mastery techniques such as: Carefully chosen examples and representations to draw out the structure and essence of the concept, discussion in the form of mixed ability pairs, talk partners and whole class discussion, mini plenaries – small steps providing sufficient scaffold for all pupils to access, precision in the use of new vocabulary to further develop understanding as well as working alongside the interests and needs of the children in our cohort. Current research on retrieval practice and cognitive load theory are at the forefront of our planning process in these areas. 

Questioning and AFL 

Teachers will use questioning throughout geography lessons to elicit children’s understanding and promote and challenge children to deepen understanding of concepts. Questions should be precise and develop geographical thinking as well as develop the use of subject – specific vocabulary. Teachers will build opportunity for AFL into lessons and will use regular opportunities for discussion and use strategies to check and deepen their understanding. 

Modelling, Discussion and Dialogue

Talk and high quality discussion is encouraged in all geography lessons. As teachers we encourage children to: articulate their thinking, take responsibility for asking questions of others to clarify understanding, agree and disagree, justifying their thinking and responding in full sentences with the intention that everyone understands them. 

Pupils behaving as geographers

There is an explicit focus on developing geographical enquiry skills and ‘working as a geographer’ in all lessons, which is reflected in the children’s books when they record their reflective comment ‘We are geographers because…’. 

 Opportunities for extended, scholarly writing appear throughout the curriculum. These have a clear purpose and audience and, crucially, allow pupils to write as a geographer. For example, after considering the hazards and benefits associated with volcanic activity and the ways in which humans can prepare for volcanic events, pupils write a discussion explaining why they would or would not live near a volcano. 

Challenges for Depth of Learning 

Challenge focuses on breadth and depth of understanding and expects the children to apply their knowledge in challenging scenarios. Greater depth tasks are carefully planned for every lesson. Evidence of high attaining pupils being challenged will be evidenced in books. 

Responsive Teaching and Feedback

In geography, all work is expected to be marked. By studying the EEF document ‘A Marked Improvement’ the use of targets is used to make marking as specific and actionable as possible in order to increase pupil progress. Where necessary teachers will intervene immediately to enable pupils to make progress in their learning. Any intervention/ response from the teacher will be annotated in the child’s book and will consolidate their thinking or encourage them to make progress.
 

SEND Pupils

Where children are working significantly below the expected age related requirements of the curriculum, scaffolding and targeted work takes place on a regular basis. These activities are planned by the teacher in discussion and collaboration with the SENDCO, parents and the TA working within the class. At the South Hams Federation schools, we believe that it is important that all learners are taught within the classroom with their peers, where interventions are needed teachers and teaching assistants follow a bespoke evidence informed intervention.  We also pre-teach children who are at risk of falling behind in certain areas, this develops curiosity and interest as well as gives these children confidence and practice in retrieval before they learn new materials. Each child with specific SEND difficulties will have targets that are agreed and monitored every half term to ensure progression.

Collaborative and Reflective CPD

The South Hams Federation of schools gives us an opportunity to reflect and collaborate on all curriculum drivers and keep up to date with current CPD, in addition to participating in external subject-specific continuing professional development. 

Impact
 

Pupil Voice -

The most effective way to find out what pupils understand about their geography will be to talk them. 

Pupils really understand a geographical concept, idea or technique if they can: 

• Describe it in their own words; 

• Represent it in a variety of ways; 

• Explain it to someone else; 

• Make up their own examples (and non-examples) of it; 

• See geographical connections between it and other facts or ideas; 

• Recognise it in new situations and contexts; 

• Make use of it in various ways, including in new situations

Through conversations with pupils about what they have learnt - both substantive and disciplinary knowledge, and how this connects to the vertical concepts that they have been developing in previous years and other subjects - we are also able to understand how they learn, if they are able to connect prior learning to the learning they are undertaking, as well as investigating whether they understand why they are learning the key concepts and whether they know how they can be used in their future learning. For example, pupils in year 4 may be asked to talk about how the tropical rainforest biome is similar to and different from hot and cold deserts, and how these biomes are affected by human activity such as deforestation or migration.

Progression

Effective monitoring and evaluation as well as informed and adaptable planning ensure progress is evident in all books for all learners. Teachers check pupils’ understanding through carefully planned questioning each lesson in order they can fill gaps and address misconceptions as required. Progress can be seen week on week as a teaching sequence is delivered as well as over a whole unit, termly and over the course of the academic year.  

 In addition, sticky questions at the start of each lesson assess the extent to which pupils have the prior knowledge that is required to access the new lesson content. End of unit assessments give teachers an understanding of the knowledge that pupils can recall at the end of the unit, and they can be used to identify any remaining gaps to be filled. These are generally made up of simple recall questions, such as naming key places or features, using map skills, identifying the causes of flooding or giving the effects of an earthquake.

Timely ‘book looks’, cross federation moderation and learning walks review progress in relation to the progression of skills for each year group and guarantee consistency and high expectations are maintained. 

Learning Environment

The learning environment seeks to challenge, inspire and aid all learners at the South Hams Federation schools. The working walls in each class showcase the curriculum being taught and the planned sequence of learning for the unit.

Recording in Books

The purpose of children recording in books is to allow teachers to measure whether pupils have understood the concept being taught and the level of depth to which they have understood it as well as allowing our children to deepen their understanding of the content by working individually, independently and at greater depth.  Our books show a child’s journey through their learning.  

Planning

The careful sequencing of the curriculum – and how concepts are gradually built over time – is the progression model. If pupils are keeping up with the curriculum, they are making progress. Formative assessment is prioritised and is focused on whether pupils are keeping up with the curriculum.