Geography

The Gallions geography curriculum aims to give every child a sense of their place in the world. Through a combination of local, national and international geography topics, pupils learn about the geographical characteristics of both their home location and other places across the world. Organised into a whole-school project entitled We Are Explorers, these topics are carefully planned to develop students’ geographical skills, knowledge and understanding.

In order to make geography projects engaging and purposeful, we follow an adaptation of the project-based learning method, whereby children are hooked into learning with real-life tasks organised around weekly questions. The tasks aim to be pupil-led and teacher-facilitated where they culminate in meaningful finales. Where possible, children enjoy real-life experiences to aid their understanding. Examples of projects include Year 1 creating a seaside soundscape to reflect their experience of visiting the seaside, and Year 4 writing a captain’s log based on the Antarctic adventures of Ernest Shackelton.

At Gallions, we recognise that our students have a rich and varied heritage, and that many children have family ties from across the world. In addition, the diverse population of our local area means that it is essential for our students to understand the geographical links between nations and continents, as well as an appreciation of the characteristics of our local area. In order to teach effectively, it is important that teachers have strong subject knowledge, which we are continuously looking to improve through learning conversations.

To find our more about our geography curriculum intention and implementation please read here.