Geography Curriculum
‘A high-quality geography education should inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. Teaching should 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 processes.’ National Curriculum
Intent
At St Clare’s, we strive to provide children with a opportunities to look closely at the world around them, locally and globally, in an exciting, creative and thought provoking way. We encourage our children to use a variety of skills to find, interpret and communicate key information that they discover independently or within peer led groups.
Within our curriculum, we aim to provide learning experiences that equip children with a deep knowledge about place, their characteristics, and physical and human processes as well as the skills to analyse findings through fieldwork
The national curriculum for geography aims to ensure that all pupils:
- 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
Our geography curriculum is taught in a progressive way which enables the children to develop fundamental geographical knowledge, skills and vocabulary. The curriculum is taught through two units with a geography focus within each year group and aims to provide children with opportunities to develop knowledge of their locality, UK and then wider world. Units of work have been carefully planned to ensure children are building on prior knowledge and develop a sense a place.
Pupils in EYFS develop their understanding of the world around them through observations, stories, non-fiction texts, map work and local walks. Children will be encouraged to make comments, discuss similarities and differences and create simple maps. In KS1 and KS2, children will develop their understanding of their locality of Chester, UK and the wider world; exploring physical and human features and developing of key knowledge and skills. Children will access weekly geography lessons that follow a clear learning journey. The children are provided with opportunities to learn practically, use a range of globes, atlases and maps to develop their understanding of place and location. Children are provided with fieldwork opportunities, such as local visits, trips to Delamere or local beaches to deepen their understanding of their specific unit or to collect and analyse data.
Impact:
What is the impact of our curriculum on the pupils?
- They will be able to use and describe physical and human features.
- Children will be able to use key geographical vocabulary when presenting geographical knowledge.
- Children will be able to notice and compare similarities and differences between studied locations.
- They will be able to confidently use globes, atlases and maps (paper and digital).
- Children will be able use and draw maps, appropriate to stage of development.
- Children will use fieldwork to collect and analyse data and information.