Intent

At St Francis of Assisi Catholic Primary School, our aim is to provide a rich and diverse curriculum that ensures all pupils are able to engage with the subject and develop a love for learning Geography. We aim to deliver a high-quality Geography curriculum that develops a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives.

Our curriculum is designed to 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. 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. Geographical knowledge, understanding and skills provide the frameworks and approaches that explain how the Earth’s features at different scales are shaped, interconnected and change over time.

The aims of the National Curriculum are to:

• 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

Implementation

At St Francis of Assisi Catholic Primary School, we use the National Curriculum objectives as the starting point for planning. Our whole school Geography curriculum is carefully sequenced, supported by a clear progression of skills and knowledge. This ensures that skills and knowledge are continually built on and sequenced appropriately to maximise learning for all children. Each year group has a clear curriculum map, outlining the specific geographical content to be covered. We ensure that prior learning is revisited and consolidated, enabling pupils to build upon their existing knowledge and to become great geographers.

Impact

Pupils will be engaged in Geography lessons and be keen to share their learning with others. During pupil interviews, pupils will be able to talk confidently about the skills and knowledge they have acquired and articulate their understanding of key geographical vocabulary and concepts across the three geographical strands: location and place, human and physical knowledge and geographical skills and fieldwork. Outcomes in geography books will evidence a broad and balanced geography curriculum and demonstrate the children’s acquisition of identified key knowledge. Work will show that a range of topics are being covered, cross-curricular links are made where possible, and a wide variety of skills are being taught. We expect that by the end of year 6, children will have the skills and knowledge they will need to access the Key Stage 3 curriculum.