Geography

At St John's CE Academy we want every child to be happy and enthusiastic learners of Geography, and to be eager to achieve their very best in order to fulfil their God-given talents. We firmly believe that the recipe for success is high-quality first-wave teaching in Geography, which is central to the life of our happy, caring school.

Intent – What we are trying to achieve?

St John's Primary’s Geography scheme of work aims to inspire pupils to become curious and explorative thinkers with a diverse knowledge of the world; in other words, to think like a geographer. We want pupils to develop the confidence to question and observe places, measure and record necessary data in various ways, and analyse and present their findings. Through our scheme of work, we aim to build an awareness of how Geography shapes our lives at multiple scales and over time. We hope to encourage pupils to become resourceful, active citizens who will have the skills to contribute to and improve the world around them.

Our scheme encourages:

• A strong focus on developing both geographical skills and knowledge.

• Critical thinking, with the ability to ask perceptive questions and explain and analyse evidence.

• The development of fieldwork skills across each year group.

• A deep interest and knowledge of pupils’ locality and how it differs from other areas of the world.

• A growing understanding of geographical concepts, terms and vocabulary.

 Our Geography scheme of work enables pupils to meet the end of key stage attainment targets in the National curriculum. The aims also align with those in the National curriculum. For EYFS, the activities allow pupils to work towards the ‘Understanding the world’ Development matters statements and Early learning goals, while also covering foundational knowledge that will support them in their further geography learning in Key stage 1.

Implementation – How do we translate our vision into practice?

The National curriculum organises the Geography attainment targets under four subheadings or strands:

• Locational knowledge

• Place knowledge

• Human and physical geography

• Geographical skills and fieldwork

St John's CE Academy's Geography scheme has a clear progression of skills and knowledge within these four strands across each year group. Our Progression of skills and knowledge shows the skills taught within each year group and how these develop to ensure that attainment targets are securely met by the end of each key stage. Geographical key concepts are woven across all units rather than being taught discretely as seen in the Progression of key geographical concepts.

Our scheme is a spiral curriculum, with essential knowledge and skills revisited with increasing complexity, allowing pupils to revise and build on their previous learning. Locational knowledge, in particular, will be reviewed in each unit to coincide with our belief that this will consolidate children’s understanding of key concepts, such as scale and place, in Geography.

Each unit contains elements of geographical skills and fieldwork to ensure that fieldwork skills are practised as often as possible.

Impact – What is the impact of our curriculum on the students?

The expected impact of following our Geography scheme of work is that children will:

● Compare and contrast human and physical features to describe and understand similarities and differences between various places in the UK, Europe and the Americas.

● Name, locate and understand where and why the physical elements of our world are located and how they interact, including processes over time relating to climate, biomes, natural disasters and the water cycle.

● Understand how humans use the land for economic and trading purposes, including how the distribution of natural resources has shaped this.

● Develop an appreciation for how humans are impacted by and have evolved around the physical geography surrounding them and how humans have had an impact on the environment, both positive and negative.

● Develop a sense of location and place around the UK and some areas of the wider world using the eight-points of a compass, four and six-figure grid references, symbols and keys on maps, globes, atlases, aerial photographs and digital mapping.

● Include a paragraph that explains your assessment models (AfL), tracking and evidencing progress processes in Geography.

● Identify and understand how various elements of our globe create positioning, including latitude, longitude, the hemispheres, the tropics and how time zones work, including night and day.

● Present and answer their own geographical enquiries using planned and specifically chosen methodologies, collected data and digital technologies.

● Meet the ‘Understanding the World’ Early Learning Goals at the end of EYFS, and the end of key stage expectations outlined in the National curriculum for Geography by the end of Year 2 and Year 6