Geography

‘Cherish the natural world because you’re a part of it and you depend on it.’ 

Sir David Attenborough 

Intent 

Our geography curriculum is designed to develop a lifelong fascination about the world in which we live. It builds on children’s prior learning and develops their knowledge of the world around them so that they know more, remember more, and understand more. Children will:

• possess geographical understanding of places, people, natural and human environments, human and physical forms and processes
• ask questions and discover answers through exploration and research
• have knowledge and understanding of our changing world and their place in it, including what they can do to protect it. 

Implementation

Geography Sequence

By the time our children finish their time in primary school, they will possess locational knowledge of the world’s countries, understand characteristics and key features of the world’s most significant human and physical features, have geographical and fieldwork skills to enhance their locational and place knowledge. There will be a discretely taught geography focus each term, wherever possible cross curricular links with other subjects are exploited. 

As a school within Bishop Hogarth Catholic Education Trust, we teach a scheme of work designed by a transition team of our primary school staff working with subject specialists from our secondary schools. This means our curriculum has been designed to ensure clear progression, in the acquisition of knowledge and for key skills, building on pupil’s prior learning. We teach termly, discreet topics for all pupils from Year 1 to Year 6.

The curriculum units of work have clearly identified minimum knowledge ‘end points,’ and have been sequenced to ensure that pupils know more and remember more as they move through primary school and transfer into KS3.

Our curriculum is designed to ensure that concepts are systematically revisited to allow children to build a strong geographical schema, within their long-term memories, which ensures lifelong learning. These concepts are:

• location and place knowledge – name, identify, and locate places on a national and global scale
• geographical techniques and terms – geographical vocabulary, map reading and graphical methods
• physical features and processes – formation and changing of natural landscapes over time
• human interaction with the environment – identify land use, understand the impact of human activity on the environment and the impact of the environment on people.

Each unit of work has a clear rationale, key topic vocabulary, builds on pupil’s prior learning and defines the minimum knowledge and skills (end points) that pupils will learn. Assessment strands in topics give pupils the opportunity to demonstrate their learning and the knowledge companions that we call ‘Learn it! Link It! help pupils to remember the key elements of the topic. This helps pupil organise their learning into relevant areas and make links to other areas and subjects.

Impact 

Pupils will:

• have developed the geographical knowledge and skills to help them explore, navigate and understand the world around them and their place in it
• be a global citizen
• be prepared for the KS3 curriculum 

Geography Curriculum

	2022-2023
	Autumn	Spring	Summer
Nursery	All About Me	Animals	The Seaside
Reception	Myself	Around the World	Space
Key Stage 1 Year 1 Year 2	Where I live Planet Earth	Weather Antarctica	Brazil Handa’s Surprise -Africa
Lower KS2 Year 3 Year 4	UK/ My place in the World Volcanoes & Earthquakes	Biomes: Tropical Rainforest Migration	Seaside Rocks Swimming in Plastic
Upper KS 2 Year 5 Year 6	Journey of the River Tees Climate Change is Real	Biomes: Desert North America	Settle Down Japanese Tsunami