St John the Baptist CE VA Primary School Geography

At St John the Baptist, our intent is that a Geography curriculum should inspire a lifelong curiosity and fascination about our world and our role in sustaining it. We believe it is our Christian responsibility to nurture a sense of guardianship in the children, which will last into adulthood. The Geography curriculum at St John the Baptist enables children to develop general knowledge beginning with their locality and pursuing their natural curiosities and fascinations in light of current news and trends. Investigative, research and analytical geographical skills learnt should promote the children’s understanding of diverse places, people, resources and environments, in order that they can continue to “run with perseverance on the race marked out for them”.

The geography curriculum at St John the Baptist enables children to develop knowledge and skills that are transferable to other curriculum areas and which can and are used to promote their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

At St John the Baptist, Children will:

• Develop contextual knowledge about the location of globally significant places.
• Name and locate counties and cities in the United Kingdom and discuss how the country has changed over time.
• Use maps to locate and name the world's countries, they will be able to describe key human and physical characteristics.
• Name and locate the continents and oceans and identify the position of latitude, longitude the hemispheres, the Arctic and Antarctic and time zones.
• Interpret a wide range of geographical information (e.g. atlases, maps, graphs, diagrams, photographs, globes, aerial photographs etc.) as well as collecting, analysing and presenting their own information.
• Experience Geography in the wider world through fieldtrips, allowing them to apply their knowledge of processes into context.
• Use correct subject-related vocabulary in both human and physical geographical focus areas.
• Gain an understanding of how world landscapes and environments change over time, including the interdependence between physical and human geography and how this causes spatial variation.
• Communicate learning in a variety of ways including sketch maps with a key and diagrams, tables, graphs and writing.
• Use their growing locational knowledge, to develop an understanding of how human and physical features interact to form and shape landscapes and environments.

Geography is, by nature, an investigative subject, which develops and understanding of concepts, knowledge and skills. We seek to inspire in children a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people which will remain with them for the rest of their lives. The curriculum is designed to develop knowledge and skills that are progressive, as well as transferable, throughout their time at St John the Baptist and also to their further education and beyond.

At St John the Baptist, the topics are planned on a two year rolling program (Reception; Year 1 and Year 2; Year 3 and Year 4; Year 5 and Year 6). This allows for good use of shared resources and planning and enrichment activities.

As Geographers, pupils are taught to explore, understand and appreciate the world in which we live – in both a physical and a human sense – through a variety of stimulating learning opportunities, in which children are encouraged to develop and respond to, geographical questions. Where possible, real-life experiences (walks, trips etc.), ICT (applications, videos etc.) and data (maps, statistics, graphs, photographs, diagrams etc.) are embedded within the geography curriculum to amplify the learning experiences that we provide. In ensuring high standards of teaching and learning in geography, we implement a curriculum that is progressive throughout the whole school, focusing on knowledge and skills stated in the National Curriculum. We have carefully mapped the progression of skills and knowledge, taking great care to take advantage of the rich geography in our local area, to build upon existing knowledge and understanding.

At St John the Baptist we:

• Deliver a broad Geographical curriculum with a range of activities
• Give children a sound knowledge of the curriculum
• Provide lessons which motivate and inspire children
• Deliver lessons which allow children to flourish in areas in which they may not in other subject areas
• Allow children to be creative and imaginative
• Give access to new and current world atlases and OS maps
• Provide practical lessons and investigations
• Provide the use of iPad/laptops
• Utilise recording equipment
• Make educational use of field trips

The impact of our Geography curriculum is measured in a variety of ways: questioning and plenaries during lesson time, the marking and teacher assessment of the children’s work, listening to child-led discussion, taking part in Pupils Voices across the school about their learning, subject leader book looks and using images/videos of children’s practical learning.

By the end of the Geography curriculum at St John the Baptist, our children will:

Have a growing knowledge of the world and their place in it.

• Have a wider vocabulary of geographical terms.
• Aspire to discover more about the world, through reading, travel or the media.
• Know that they can use their voice to express themselves and their opinions.
• Develop their geographical skills, such as, evaluation, creativity, problem solving and enquiry