Geography 

Intent 

At Westcliff we intend children to become confident explorers of the fascinating world around them, and curious about the diverse people who live in it. We begin by nurturing their understanding of place and their local area and soon expand to include more distant and varied locations.  

We will equip them with the skills to: 

• Navigate and explore using geographical skills and fieldwork 

• Compare and contrast using their understanding of place 

• Speak the language of Geography 

• Investigate both physical and human processes 

A key and relevant theme of the coast will weave throughout all our geographical learning, children will learn the wonders and dangers of the ocean and how to stay safe while living in a coastal town like Dawlish. We will study the formation and use of different landscapes and environments, how our Earth has already changed, as well as how to protect it for the future. We will teach children how to transfer geography skills from the classroom to the real world, and inspire them to take on the ever-changing geographical challenges faced by our future generations.  

Michael Palin once said, “To really understand the world you need to get under the skin of the people and the places” and this is just what we intend to do.   

Implementation – The Golden Threads of Geography 

1. To enable pupils to flourish within their local environment through field work studies and quality outdoor experiences, fully utilising our coastal environment. 

1. To inspire pupils to become lifelong geographers by creating learning that helps to provoke and provide answers to questions about the natural and human aspects of the world.  

1. To use quality tangible resources to excite pupils and provide a basis for key geographical skills. 

1. At the start of each Geography unit of work we discover what pupils already know and what previous learning has been retained, providing the pupils the ability to know more and remember more. 

1. Throughout Geography learning pupils will have a focus on subject specific vocabulary to enable each child to become a confident speaker of Geography, this links solidly with our oracy work across the rest of the curriculum. 

Impact 

The impact of Geography is initially assessed by the language that pupils have acquired across the unit of work, via a ‘Vocab Lab’ style discussion. This shows that children will have developed the geographical knowledge and skills to help them explore, navigate and understand the world around them and their place in it. Pupil discussions across each year group form a basis to evidence the impact of Geography across the school, allowing pupils to have their view heard in order to create exciting future learning opportunities and discuss learning already acquired.