Geography at Rockbeare Primary is designed to spark curiosity, foster understanding and celebrate the wonders of the world.

'You can travel the seas, poles and deserts and see nothing.  To really understand the world you need to get under the skin of people and places.'

Michael Palin.

In Geography, we ignite curiosity about the world and its diverse landscapes.  Our curriculum aims to: develop locational knowledge, where children will explore globally significant places, both terrestrial and marine and understand their defining physical and human characteristics.  They will foster their understanding as they delve into geographical contexts, enabling children to comprehend the actions of natural processes and human interactions.  We promote environmental awareness as our learners engage with sustainability, climate change and the impact of human activities on our planet and we build geographical skills through fieldwork, mapping, data analysis and the use of our outdoor environment.

Geography principles linked to our vision and values. 

Children will:

Cultivate spatial awareness and understanding of global places.

Appreciate the interconnectedness of physical and human geography.

Respect and protect the environment.

Engage with diverse cultures and perspectives. 

Our Intent

In line with our aims we intend to deliver a curriculum which is exciting and progressive and develops children's understanding of the geographical skills and what is is like to be a Geographer.  We want children to develop a secure understanding of our planet and have empathy and understanding of their responsibilities in the world.   Children will be able to recognise similarities and differences within and across different countries including climate, terrain, landscape, weather, people and culture.  Children will develop the ability to ask meaningful questions, think critically and gain geographical perspective about events and changes over time.  We promote equality and diversity and challenge stereotypes through texts and lesson content.  We want our children to be global citizens of the future.

Our Implementation

We follow the National Curriculum for Geography.

The National Curriculum aims are to ensure all pupils:

• develop contextual knowledge of the location of globally significant places – both terrestrial and marine – including their defining physical and human characteristics and how these provide a geographical context for understanding the actions of processes
• understand the processes that give rise to key physical and human geographical features of the world, how these are interdependent and how they bring about spatial variation and change over time
• are competent in the geographical skills needed to:

           -collect, analyse and communicate with a range of data gathered through experiences of fieldwork that deepen their understanding of geographical processes

            -interpret a range of sources of geographical information, including maps, diagrams, globes, aerial photographs and Geographical Information Systems (GIS)

            -communicate geographical information in a variety of ways, including through maps, numerical and quantitative skills and writing at length.

We develop the children's geographical skills by focusing on a different skills in each lest lesson.  We will pitch lessons using the progression of skills document and ensure lessons are adapted to suit all learners make progress in each skill.  We use these logos to ensure children know which skill we are focusing on and what it takes to be a good Geographer. 

Our Impact

Children will leave each year with the knowledge and skills required to enable them to access and apply to subsequent learning.  Children will know, apply and understand the specified content for each topic.  Children will be assessed using the key performance indicators for each unit through a range of formative and summative assessments.  We use retrieval practice to ensure children are over learning and retaining key concepts.  At the end of a topic children will be given key tasks to apply what they have learnt along with a low stakes knowledge quiz to see what children have remembered.  Children will be aware of different places around the world and world events and their contribution to the world.  Children will be able to make links to previous learning and understand the relevance of these connections.   Children will be assessed on their geographical skills using the topic covers so children know their next steps in learning. 

OUR ECO CLUB

Well done to the Eco Club, who were awarded a high commendation for green education in schools! We are so proud of you! A huge thank you to our volunteers Becky and Lucy for all of their hard work and in leading this group to success!
Take a moment to read a little about their achievement from their acknowledgement letter:
"Thank you for taking part in the Primary Awards for Green Education in Schools (PAGES) 2024. I am delighted to inform you that Rockbeare Church of England Primary School’s project ’Eco Club Art and Crafts' has been Highly Commended.
Almost 35,000 young people were involved in the creation of entries for this year’s competition. It was fantastic to see the diverse approaches that schools in the UK are taking to delivering environmental education to their children. The young people’s passion and commitment really shone through! With over 270 entries received, it was a very difficult decision to select our award winners, so you and all of the children involved should be very proud.

The Eco Club clearly has some fantastic eco-artists for members! We loved seeing all the different projects you have done during the year. The star was particularly eye-catching, as were the dyed eggs. Great work everyone!"