Geography

Our Geography Curriculum 

Intent

We believe that geography helps to provoke questions and provide answers about the natural and human aspects of the world. Children are encouraged to develop a greater understanding and knowledge of the world, as well as their place in it.

The geography curriculum at St Nicolas enables children to develop knowledge and skills that are transferable to other curriculum areas and which are also used to promote their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Geography is,

by nature, an investigative subject, which develops an understanding of concepts, knowledge and skills.

Aim for pupils:

• To provide a high-quality geography education which inspires in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives.

• Lessons equip pupils with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes.

• As pupils progress, their growing knowledge about the world will help them to deepen their understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes, and of the formation and use of landscapes and environments.

• Geographical learning provides the tools and approaches that explain how the Earth’s features at different scales are shaped, interconnected and change over time.

Implementation

Our geography curriculum is fun, exciting and engaging to capture children’s imagination. Teachers deliver geography through a variety of teaching methods incorporating visual, auditory and practical learnings to meet the needs of all pupils. This includes fieldwork in the local area. All learning will start by revisiting prior knowledge. This will be scaffolded to support children to recall previous learning and make connections. Staff will model explicitly the subject-specific vocabulary, knowledge and skills relevant to the learning to allow them to integrate new knowledge into larger concepts. At the start of each lesson, prior learning is revised using our live feedback grids and misconceptions are addressed to ensure children have embedded the learning from the previous session. Subject specific vocabulary is provided to the children and displayed around the classroom along with key questions and facts. Modelled examples of work are also displayed to demonstrate high expectations to the pupils. Our geographers will be given a variety of experiences both in and out of the classroom where appropriate to create memorable learning opportunities and to further support and develop their understanding.

Impact

The successful approach to teaching geography at St Nicolas', provides pupils with fun, creative, high-quality and engaging lessons that give children the foundations for geography which they can take with them once they have completed their primary education. This is demonstrated through pupil voice where they are able to talk about what they have learnt in geography using subject specific vocabulary. Pupil voice also demonstrates that pupils enjoy geography and are able to recall their learning over time. Pupils work demonstrates that geography is taught at an age appropriate standard across each year group with opportunities planned in for pupils working at greater depth. Work is of good quality and demonstrates pupils are acquiring knowledge, skills and vocabulary in an appropriate sequence. Live feedback grids will show how pupils have engaged with the lesson and have understood any misconceptions.