At St John’s CE Primary School, we believe that Geography is vital in developing the child as a whole, and a full and rich curriculum gives children the best early education possible. We strive to deliver a Geography curriculum that encourages children’s curiosity and fascination about the world and the people within it. Through carefully planned teaching sequences, our children develop a sense of place along with a range of investigative and problem-solving skills, both inside and outside the classroom. Our aim is to equip our children with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments.

Intent

Our Geography curriculum is designed to develop children’s inquisitiveness and appreciation about the world and its people that will remain with them throughout their lives.  Learners will investigate a range of places, both in Britain and abroad to help develop knowledge and understanding of the Earth’s physical and human processes.  We provide opportunities to investigate and enquire about our local area of Wellington, this will support children to develop an understanding of who they are, their heritage and what makes our local area so unique and special.

We aim to give our children strong geographical knowledge, good enquiry skills, the ability to use a range of maps, the skills to collect and analyse data and the ability to communicate information in a variety of ways.

We want the children to have a love of geographical learning, gaining knowledge and skills through high quality teaching both inside and outside the classroom.  As the future generation responsible for our planet, we want our children to have a sense of respect for the world.

The National Curriculum for Geography aims to ensure that all children:

• 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.

Implementation

At St. John’s we implement a progressive Geography curriculum that builds on prior knowledge and skills year on year.  Our Geography curriculum is taught through effective teaching and sequences of lessons and experiences through topics.  These aim to be challenging, inspiring, creative, nurturing and to encourage active learning. Children may revisit geographical skills and knowledge in order to embed and deepen understanding to enable children to reach their full potential.

At present, our curriculum is taught on a two-year cycle (Year A and Year B).  TLessons are planned to ensure that all children are well supported in their learning and that opportunities for differentiation and depth is planned for.  Trips and visiting experts enhance learning experiences for the children.

Topic books are used across KS1 and KS2 provide a record of the children’s learning and progress. A triangulation of teachers’ planning, children’s work and pupil voice help to inform assessment and progress made during the teaching sequence and throughout the year.

Impact

At the end of each key stage, the children’s learning is assessed against the age-related expectation bands that are based on the 2014 National Curriculum statements for Geography. We use summative assessment to determine children’s understanding through pre- and post-unit assessments and this also informs teachers' planning. Geography is reviewed by the subject leader, who also carries out regular learning walks, opportunities for pupil voice and topic book scrutinies.

Geography in the Early Years

In the EYFS, Geography is taught through the 'Understanding the World' Early Learning Goal.  Children in reception class begin to explore basic geographical and fieldwork skills in the form of map reading, following 1 and 2 step instructions and observing their environment. From this early stage we introduce pupils to the diversity of the world we live in, whilst supporting pupils in describing their immediate environment using knowledge from observation, discussion, stories, non-fiction texts and maps. Pupils begin to learn to explain some similarities and differences between life in this country and life in other countries. An introduction to early map work supports pupils in understanding what a map is and how to use them, ready for later Map and Fieldwork skills in KS1 & KS2. Understanding of their immediate surroundings acts as a precursor to drawing comparisons between different places and helps pupils begin to understand the concepts of climate change, healthy living, caring for the world around us and global citizenship.

Understanding the World involves guiding children to make sense of their physical world and their community through opportunities to explore, observe and find out about people, places, technology and the environment. The children will learn about their immediate locality so they learn about places around our school and grounds. They learn about familiar features such as houses, farms and shops building on their everyday experiences. They will encounter distant places through topics and stories. The children observe and discuss the weather regularly during EYFS, becoming familiar with types of weather and how it can affect them such as needing coats when it is cold. The children also learn about the different jobs which people do in our local community.