Intent

“Your descendants will live all over the Earth and bring it under control.” Genesis 1:28

It is our intention that Geography will inspire pupils with a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. As part of a community in Christ we believe that we have a duty to look after and protect the world that God created. In order to fulfil this mission, our pupils need to be equipped with the tools and skills through an enriching Geography curriculum.   

Teaching will equip pupils with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human features.

As pupils progress, their growing knowledge about the world should help them to deepen their understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes, and of the formation and use of landscapes and environments.

We aim for our children to gain confidence and practical experiences of geographical knowledge, understanding and skills in a variety of ways, settings and contexts.

Implementation

Our geography curriculum is carefully planned to ensure continuity and progression and a sound grasp of knowledge. Regular links are made between different aspects of the children’s learning and there is a high volume of deliberate practice to ensure that children can remember and retain knowledge and then apply their learning.

Children will begin by learning about people, culture and communities and the natural world in Reception. They will build on this in KS1 as our children develop a sense of place, scale and an understanding of human and physical geographical features. Later in KS1, children learn about the purpose and use of sketch maps as well as the key features they need to include. Our curriculum provides opportunities for our children to develop their map skills and fieldwork skills, which we believe are essential to support children in developing an understanding of how to explain and describe a place, the people who live there, its space and scale.

In LKS2 fieldwork and map skills are revisited with the intercardinal points of a compass points being introduced to elaborate on the knowledge our children already have around cardinal points. This substantive and disciplinary knowledge is utilised to support a study of the UK, focusing on regions, counties, landmarks and topography. This study demands analysis and pattern seeking to identify the features of the UK. Further retrieval studies are designed to support conceptual fluency around physical and human features. Cause and effect are also developed through geographical reasoning. An example of this is the interrelationship between physical terrain of the northern regions of the UK and the lower lands of East Anglia, that are covered in glacial deposits. Further studies are undertaken to elaborate fieldwork and map skills through a sharper focus on OS maps.

In UKS2, the study of 4 and 6 figure grid references supports prior learning of reference systems and brings an increased accuracy to mapping and fieldwork skills. Terrain is studied through contour lines and OS map skills and fieldwork. Our children take part in geographical analysis using patterns and comparison of both human and physical processes as well as the features present in chosen locations. Physical processes such as orogeny and glaciation are acquired to explain significant change over long periods of time. The concept of a physical process is revisited through a study of Earthquakes, mountains and volcanoes. This depth study allows pupils the opportunity to have a more sophisticated knowledge of physical processes and make connections about how the environment has been shaped, as a result. Settlement, trade and economic activities are the focus of a study that draws upon the Windrush generation module in our History Curriculum. This develops an increasing knowledge about migration and the factors that push people away or draw people towards settlements..

Our school driver, Community, can be seen in our Geography curriculum through our work on local geography and local visits.

Our second school driver, Whole Child, is central to the key skills we focus on and develop in Geography such as being ambitious, resilient, knowledgeable, reflective, collaborative and environmentally aware.

Our final school driver, Communication, is developed in Geography in a variety of ways.  Children will gain experience of presentations to the whole class, taking part in debates, creating fact files and meeting experts in their field presenting children with a range of purposes and audiences for developing those key communication skills.

Impact

Through our curriculum and quality first teaching, children will learn and retain knowledge about the world around them. They will be able to make links across their learning and share their knowledge using rich, technical, precise vocabulary. Children will be interested in the world around them and its people. They will be curious and be experienced at ‘thinking like a geographer’.

When the children leave in Year 6, they will leave us prepared and ready to continue developing their knowledge and skills in KS3 and beyond.