Intent
At St Mary’s, we believe that Geography helps to provoke and answer questions about the natural and human aspects of the world. Children are encouraged to develop a greater understanding of the world, its interconnectedness, and their place in it. Our geography curriculum enables children to develop knowledge and skills transferable to other curriculum areas, promoting their spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development. Geography, by nature, is an investigative subject that fosters an understanding of concepts, knowledge, and skills.
The curriculum is designed to ensure that teaching equips pupils with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources, and environments, both natural and human. As pupils progress, their growing knowledge helps deepen their understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes, and the formation and use of landscapes and environments. Geographical knowledge and skills are progressively sequenced to explain how the Earth’s features at different scales are shaped, interconnected, and change over time.
We seek to inspire in children a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people, equipping them for further education and beyond.
Implementation
Geography at St Mary’s is taught in blocks throughout the year, allowing children to achieve depth in their learning. Teachers have identified key knowledge and skills for each topic, mapping these across the school to ensure progressive knowledge building and systematic skill development. Existing knowledge is checked at the beginning of each lesson, informing teaching based on children’s starting points and interests. Tasks are designed to provide appropriate challenges for all learners, fostering independent working and confidence in line with the school’s commitment to inclusion.
At the end of each topic, children complete POP (Proof of Progress) tasks to showcase their retained knowledge. Teachers design POP tasks according to the key knowledge identified on the topic’s knowledge organiser, aligning with the National Curriculum Objectives for Geography. Teachers support and scaffold POP tasks based on the children’s age and individual needs, consolidating key topic knowledge.
Geography knowledge organisers underpin children’s understanding of subject-specific language and provide visual and summative information on key knowledge. These organisers support independent tasks and are available in books and on the school website for home learning support.
Within all lesson sequences, teachers plan progressive questioning phases that extend and promote higher-order thinking. Questions initially focus on knowledge recall and retrieval, then extend to application in new situations, promoting analytical thinking. For example, children might compare their environment with a country near the Equator, leading to conclusions about physical and human geography.
The Geography provision is well-resourced and frequently used by teachers to support effective teaching and learning. The local area is utilised for outdoor learning opportunities, embedding these practices in the curriculum.
Impact
Outcomes in topic books demonstrate a broad and balanced Geography curriculum, showcasing children’s acquisition of key knowledge related to national curriculum strands: locational knowledge, place knowledge, and human and physical geography, along with key skills supported by fieldwork.
Through pupil voice, children can articulate the skills and knowledge they have acquired, expressing curiosity to learn more. They will display investigative skills through research-based projects and homework tasks. Children understand the key skills required of a Geographer and can identify the skills used in their learning blocks. St Mary’s Geographers follow the ‘OII’ approach:
- Observe: Learn to observe and describe environmental features, both human and physical.
- Interpret: Develop the ability to read and interpret maps.
- Investigate: Engage in fieldwork to explore the local environment, gather first hand data, ask questions, plan investigations, collect data, and analyse findings to understand geographical processes and phenomena.
Progress is demonstrated through Assessment for Learning (AfL) during lessons and POP tasks at the end of each learning block. Assessments and monitoring highlight the high standards of Geography pedagogy and learning across the school.
Vision and Curriculum Drivers
Our geography teaching supports our school HEART vision for the children at St Mary's and our Curriculum Drivers as follows:
Health and Happiness – Geography teaching at St Mary's develops pupils sense of place. Through widening horizons and studying people, places and cultures through physical and human geography children's horizon's are broadened developing greater understanding of their place in the world.
Excellence – Through the geography curriculum's knowledge and skills progression, children develop as geographers. Children develop a sense of responsibility for the world they live in, an awareness of environmental issues and a sense of responsibility as a global citizen..
Aspiration– Children learn about people and places beyond their everyday experiences, therefore developing the cultural capital to be successful in life.
Resilience - The children will, throughout their learning, study changes in human and physical landscapes over time and the effect on the people who lived their. Creating a greater understanding of the resilience and perseverance that was demonstrated and the effect on human lives. Through practicing geographical fieldwork skills and mapping children will develop their own resilience to improve.
Together - Children will develop their understanding of differing places, cultures and people. Exploring the similarities and differences to their own experiences; broadening their horizons to promote inclusivity and tolerance of the world's diverse cultures.
The study of geography is about more than just memorizing places on a map. It's about understanding the complexity of our world, appreciating the diversity of cultures that exists across continents. And in the end, it's about using all that knowledge to help bridge divides and bring people together.
Barak Obama
We aim for children to 'be the best they can be' both now and in the future. Through increasing knowledge of the local area and further afield, exposure to differing environments and different places, increasing opportunities available to them and widening their experiences children are explicitly and implicitly taught about and immersed in the potential the wider world can offer.