Horton Kirby Field Trip 2024

In September, Year 5 went to Horton Kirby. The children completed fieldwork all about the River Darent in the Horton Kirby valley. We learnt about the key features of rivers, such as meanders, tributaries and confluences. Our walk to the river took us over a bridge, where we played a game of Pooh sticks to investigate the flow of the river.  We passed a park, where Mr. Berry told us how the field can flood, acting as a floodplain, when there are high water levels. 

At the river, we used rubber ducks to test the speed of the different channels at the river. We had a lot of fun doing this and managed to collect data to see the quickest parts of the river. Measuring the depth of the river showed us that the river flowed quicker at the deepest parts. Mr. Berry put our results into a chart so we could see our recordings.

Back at the centre, we made our own rivers using dirt and water. We saw the effects of erosion, transportation and deposition. Our challenge was to build defences to protect from the erosion.

We had an amazing time at Horton Kirby and learnt so much about rivers!

Geography Vision

Intent

Rooted in God as our vine, our Geography curriculum purpose is to enable our pupils to acquire key geographical knowledge whilst learning valuable skills. We aim to encourage children to be fascinated by the world around them, increasing their curiosity about physical and human features of their environment, enabling questions to be asked and enquiries to unfold. Geographical learning takes place across the curriculum at Bapchild, it is not simply taught in stand-alone lessons. Physical Geography is taught in Science and Forest School through investigative and explorative learning, alongside human geography being discussed in RE and PSHE.

Implementation

Language-rich and a wide range of vocabulary

The subject of Geography is specialist vocabulary-rich and at Bapchild we encourage our learners to be enthused by language. Through our use of working walls, key vocabulary is displayed in sequential stages dependent on the complexity of key words. The value of displaying this key terminology directly links to the children’s independent work as they already have an abundance of subject-specific vocabulary to use within their learning. The children also convey their oracy skills within Geography, as they are taught to reason and explain their thoughts verbally, increasing the familiarity of geographical terms.

Enquiry-based

Our Geography units of work are built around key enquiry questions to excite the children at the beginning of a unit, hooking each pupil and allowing them to wonder what learning will precede next. Within each module of study, smaller questions are posed, allowing the over-arching question to be explored in sequential steps so cognitive overload does not occur.

Critical thinking through posing and answering questions

Within our curriculum, where possible, we have time-tabled specific Geography units to coincide with related subjects of study so that connections can be formed and greater meaningful learning can occur. This enables our children to deepen their understanding of geographical concepts and the wider world, allowing the skill of critical thinking develop. We aim for our pupils to be confident to pose questions and seek answers, growing their thirst for knowledge and love of learning.

Impact

The Geography curriculum at Bapchild and Tonge enables our children to have a secure knowledge of the natural processes and features of the world, as well as the human effects on the environment. This established knowledge is interwoven with geographical and enquiry based skills, allowing our pupils to confidently articulate their thought and findings, thus paving their own learning. Each child’s individual learning journey is celebrated greatly, with the hope of inspiring further knowledge acquisition