Curriculum Intent
St. Mary’s Geography Curriculum 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 Geography Curriculum 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 curriculum enables pupils to meet the end of key stage attainment targets in the National Curriculum.
Curriculum Aims
| Whole School Aims | In Geography… |
| To have Christ at the centre of everything we do. To provide opportunities for children to develop as independent, confident, resilient, successful & motivated learners with high aspirations who know how to make a positive and transformational contribution to their local community and wider global society. | Children will use their understanding of the world that we live in to develop their aspirations to be future world changers. From studying Geography at a local level, the children understand the world around them and their place within it. As they continue their educational journey, they begin to understand the impact of humans on society and develop their own awareness on a larger scale. This slowly reveals Christ to them and develops a want to make a change for the better. |
| To be firmly rooted in the principles of Catholic Social Teaching. Inspired by Pope Francis, St. Mary’s Curriculum encourages our pupils to grow in self-awareness and become advocates of social justice. | Through the Geography curriculum, the children will deepen their understanding of the world around them and develop their self-awareness and in turn, become critical thinkers. The impact of this will create advocates for greater social justice where there they feel there is inequity. |
| To challenge all pupils, regardless of disadvantages or special needs, to be the greatest example of themselves. Through experiences both inside and outside of the classroom, pupils are provided with a purpose and relevance for learning, which allows them to develop their own personal strengths and interests. | Geography provides the opportunities for the pupils to understand that they live in an ever-changing world. A knowledge of the world ignites a desire to learn more – every child in our school will be given the opportunities to develop this desire, regardless of any disadvantages or special needs. The fieldwork aspect of our geography curriculum allows all pupils to succeed in ways not always possible in a classroom environment. |
| St Mary’s Curriculum develops the key skills necessary for all our pupil and promotes high expectations of standards and enjoyment in Reading, Writing and Maths across all subject areas. | Although taught as a discrete subject, many of the skills taught in Geography are interconnectable amongst a wide range of subjects, especially Maths, Reading and Writing. By developing good, knowledgeable geographers, we will also be producing excellent mathematicians, readers and writers. |
| To develop pupils with a broad and lasting knowledge of subject specific vocabulary. | Through a high quality curriculum and abstract Geographical terms, the children will develop their range of vocabulary which will be transferable across all subjects. A good understanding of Geography will lend itself to highly confident, independent learners who can infer and deduce a greater deal of information and disseminate it in a range of ways. |
| To empower pupils to respect each other and themselves, show respect and understanding for people of all faiths, race and gender, and for all living things, promoting stewardship and to ensure all pupils are well prepared for life in a rapidly changing world. | Through the study of human and physical geography, children will develop an understanding of the environment and learn to respect it as their common home. Children will come across cultural diversity and become aware of the lives of others in a diverse world, developing tolerance and respect for people of different countries and communities and an understanding that we are all united as one people. |
Curriculum Implementation
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. Mary’s Geography Curriculum 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 National curriculum coverage document shows which of our units cover each of the National curriculum attainment targets as well as each of the four strands in Key stage 1 and 2.
St. Mary’s Geography Curriculum 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 will be reviewed in each unit to coincide with our school’s belief that this will consolidate children’s understanding of key concepts, such as scale and place, in Geography.
Cross-curricular links are included throughout each unit, allowing children to make connections and apply their Geography skills to other areas of learning. Our enquiry questions form the basis for each unit, meaning that pupils gain a solid understanding of geographical knowledge and skills by applying them to answer enquiry questions. These questions are open-ended with no preconceived answers and therefore they are genuinely purposeful and engage pupils in generating a real change. In attempting to answer them, children learn how to collect, interpret and represent data using geographical methodologies and make informed decisions by applying their geographical knowledge.
Each unit contains elements of geographical skills and fieldwork to ensure that fieldwork skills are practised as often as possible. Our units follow an enquiry cycle that maps out the fieldwork process of question, observe, measure, record, and present, to reflect the elements mentioned in the National Curriculum. This ensures children will learn how to decide on an area of enquiry, plan to measure data using a range of methods, capture the data and present it to a range of appropriate stakeholders in various formats.
Fieldwork includes smaller opportunities on the school grounds to larger-scale visits to investigate physical and human features. Developing fieldwork skills within the school environment and revisiting them in multiple units enables pupils to consolidate their understanding of various methods. It also gives children the confidence to evaluate methodologies without always having to leave the school grounds and do so within the confines of a familiar place. This makes fieldwork regular and accessible while giving children a thorough understanding of their locality, providing a solid foundation when comparing it with other places.
Lessons incorporate various teaching strategies from independent tasks to paired and group work, including practical hands-on, computer-based and collaborative tasks. This variety means that lessons are engaging and appeal to those with a variety of learning styles. Each lesson provides guidance for teachers on how to adapt their teaching to ensure that all pupils can access learning, and opportunities to stretch pupils’ learning are also available. Knowledge organisers for each unit support pupils in building a foundation of factual knowledge by encouraging recall of key facts and vocabulary.
Strong subject knowledge is vital for staff to deliver a highly effective and robust Geography Curriculum. Each unit includes multiple teacher videos to develop subject knowledge and support CPD.
Curriculum Impact
Our enquiry-based approach to learning allows to assess children against the National Curriculum expectations for Geography. The impact of our Geography Curriculum can be constantly monitored through both formative and summative assessment opportunities.
Each lesson includes guidance to support teachers in assessing pupils against the learning objectives. Furthermore, each unit has a unit quiz and knowledge catcher, which can be used at the start or end of the unit to assess children’s understanding. Opportunities for children to present their findings using their geographical skills forms part of the assessment process in each unit.
After implementing St Mary’s Geography Curriculum, pupils should leave school equipped with a range of skills and knowledge to enable them to study Geography with confidence at Key stage 3. We hope to shape children into curious and inspired geographers with respect and appreciation for the world around them alongside an understanding of the interconnection between the human and the physical. Through this appreciation of God’s creations, pupils will become stewards of creation and through discovery of cultural diversity they will become aware of the lives of others in a diverse world, developing tolerance and respect for people of different countries and communities and an understanding that we are all united as one people.