Geography
"Geography is the subject which holds the key to our future" Michael Palin
Intent
Geography is a foundation subject at St Francis Primary School.
At St Francis Catholic Primary School we have built a geographical curriculum that develops learning and results in the acquisition of knowledge of their world around children so that they know more, remember more and understand more. This is achieved through the use of:
- planning with the National Curriculum
- progression grid
- subject specific content
- appropriate connections to other curriculum areas.
Geography teaches children an understanding of places and their environments. It gives them the opportunity to explore cultures, landscapes and geographical features which are very different from their own surroundings, and helps to foster an interest in the wider world. It focuses on our immediate locality and countries all over the world, and enables children to find about the physical world, its human and natural features.
Good geography teaching also develops map reading skills, and nurtures a sense of responsibility towards all of the earth’s creatures and environments, as well as building a a strong sense of ‘global citizenship’.
Implementation
Geography is a foundation subject at St Francis Primary School and is taught as a unit each term.
Geography is a foundation subject at St Francis and a foundation subject in the National Curriculum. All children from Year 2 upwards will study three geography units over the course of the year. We use Chris Quigley’s Geography scheme and have adapted the scheme to suit the needs of our children. Our curriculum drivers are derived from our pupil’s backgrounds and our beliefs about a high-quality education. This is used to ensure we give our pupil’s appropriate and ambitious curriculum opportunities.
- The promotion of a language rich Geography curriculum is essential to the successful acquisition of knowledge and understanding in Geography.
- Independent learning: In Geography children are encouraged to enquire about their topic of interest and develop their independence when locating places, describing places and exploring the outdoors.
- Children will access resources to acquire learning through atlases, text books, maps, digital technology and photographs. Children will use a range of secondary resources to develop their knowledge and understanding that is integral to their learning.
- Enhancement – In order to enhance the curriculum for geography children access the local area at several points over the year; by making connections through all the different curriculum areas and have access to a local map. With this map they navigate and apply their geographical skills when accessing the local area.
- Educational Visits to enhance their cultural capital where applicable links to geography will be made to develop the children’s topical learning.
- Outdoor Learning opportunities with the curriculum over the course of the year. This may be using the school grounds, local area or wider community to apply and explore their subject specific task.
Geography Disciplinary Progression Document
Impact
I love that we get to learn about the world. We have previously learned about the equator which in an invisible line that goes around the world. I know the equator is very hot. I really enjoy learning about the world. I enjoy geography and learning about all the different countries. I love learning about the world because it is a beautiful place to live in beautiful people live in it. I really enjoyed learning about the different cultures around the world. I enjoyed researching and learning about different countries in Europe. I like map work because I can find out where different countries are and learn about new ones. It's good finding and labelling features on a map. It was fun finding out about the size and names of different mountains and lakes.
