The Intent of our Geography Curriculum

It is the intent of the Geography Curriculum to provide plenty of opportunities for the children to learn about the world that they live in. This includes the children learning the location of different countries, cities and towns in the UK and across the world and learning about the human and physical geography of these locations. It also includes the children learning what it is like to live in these places by making observations, carrying out research, reading graphs and charts and asking questions.

In addition, it is the aim of the Geography Curriculum to provide the children with first hand experiences of visiting some of the locations they are learning about such as the area which they live in, Skipton, Liverpool and other places where they can abstract information.

The Implementation of our Geography Curriculum

In Early Years, Geography is taught via the Early Learning Goals linked to the Specific Area ‘Understanding the World’. The majority of learning in this area occurs through adult intervention when the children are in continuous provision. However, during their time in Early Years the children will listen to stories set in different locations, engage in a unit titled ‘All About Me’ and participate in topic led work about the world they live in.

By the end of Early Years therefore, the children should be able to:

- Know about similarities and differences in relation to places objects, materials and living things.

- Be able to talk about the features of their own immediate environment and how environments might vary from one another.

- Be able to make observations of animals and plants and explain why some things occur, and talk about changes.

In Years 1 – 6, Geography is taught in a 6-8-week block of lessons, which on average last about an hour each. This timing however in this block is flexible depending on the content being covered and the skills being developed.

Each Unit of Work has been carefully written using the guidance of the Geographical Association recommended Super Schemes and Geography Plus Documents.

To ensure the full coverage of the National Curriculum and Progression in Skills the school has a detailed breakdown of what will be taught in each session across the school. It also has a progression in Geography Knowledge & Skills document which shows how the children will progress in their learning as they move further up the school and into Year 6.

To ensure that:

  • The children remember the long-term content.
  • The children understand that they are systematically learning.
  • The children can integrate new knowledge into larger concepts.

At the start of each unit, the children will be given a unit organiser which will have information about the unit they are learning, prior learning linked to this unit, future learning and a list of key vocabulary and definitions.

A working wall in the classroom will also be used to display prior, current and future learning as well as key vocabulary and their definitions and information about the key learning objectives.

The Impact of our Geography Curriculum

The intended impact of the Geography Curriculum is that the majority of children in each year group are working at or above the expected level for their age. At the end of each unit, the teacher will carry out assessment linked to the progression in skills and knowledge document.

In addition, it is the intended impact that the children:

  • are inspired by the Geography Curriculum and want to learn more.
  • show the progression in their skills as well as their knowledge, especially in map reading, compass work and locating places on a map.
  • can discuss their learning and remember what they have learnt.
  • can talk about their first-hand experiences of visiting different places and locations.