Intent, Implementation, and Impact

Geography Curriculum Statement

Our curriculum is joined and sequenced properly to ensure that our children avoid gaps in their learning. A globally relevant curriculum helps to facilitate children with a strong world view.

Intent
At. St. John’s, our Geography curriculum is designed to develop children’s curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. Children investigate a range of places – both in Britain and abroad – to help develop their knowledge and understanding of the Earth’s physical and human processes. We are committed to providing children with opportunities to investigate and make enquiries about their local area of Banbury and Oxfordshire so that they can develop a real sense of who they are, their heritage and what makes our local area unique and special.

Our aims of teaching geography at St. John’s is to develop the following essential characteristics of geographers:

• An excellent knowledge of where places are and what they are like, both in Britain and the wider world
• A comprehensive understanding of the ways in which places are interdependent and interconnected
• An extensive base of geographical knowledge and vocabulary
• Excellent fieldwork skills as well as other geographical aptitudes and techniques
• A genuine interest in the subject and a real sense of curiosity about the world and the people who live here

 

Implementation

Geography is taught on a weekly basis, following the Pearson Primary Geography scheme of learning. The key knowledge and skills that children acquire and develop throughout each unit of learning have been mapped to ensure progression between year groups throughout the school. Our Key Stage 1 curriculum builds disciplinary knowledge through a focus on developing subject specific concepts, like evidence and decision making, so that children enter Key Stage 2 ready to engage with more substantive knowledge and leave primary school ready for the secondary school Humanities curriculum. Our teaching of geography is relevant in a global world and our children become ‘global citizens’ with a broad, deep range of knowledge.

The geography curriculum incorporates fundamental geographical knowledge and skills, allowing pupils to build on a firm foundation in future years.

Geography Units Key Stage 1

	Autumn	Spring	Summer
Cycle A	Weather and Fieldwork Skills		Hot and Cold Climates
Cycle B		Comparing countries of the UK

Geography Units Key Stage 2

	Autumn	Spring	Summer
Year 3	Villages, Towns and Cities	Mountains, Volcanoes and Earthquakes	Water and Weather
Year 4	Rivers	Migration	Natural Resources
Year 5	Slums	Biomes	Energy and Sustainability
Year 6	Local Fieldwork	Population	Globalisation

Intended Impact

At St. John’s, we measure the impact of our curriculum through the following ways:

• Starting each lesson with prior learning
• Assessing children’s understanding of topic linked vocabulary
• Images and videos of the children’s practical learning
• Interviewing pupils about their learning (pupil voice)
• Marking of written work in their pupil booklets