Intent

Geography is about enhancing an understanding, and appreciation, of our rich and diverse world. Through this subject, we equip our children with a deeper knowledge of where places are, what they are like, the people who live there, and their physical and human environments and processes. Studying other places also allows them to appreciate how they, their local and national surroundings uniquely ‘fit’ within the wider world, and how they compare and contrast to others. It is our intent to inspire a fascination, awe and wonder of the precious planet on which we live, encouraging a curiosity about it and a desire to play their part in conserving it; also, to foster the investigative and enquiry skills key to studying this subject, which can be transferred to a wide range of other curriculum areas, enabling every individual to reach their fullest potential.

Implementation

Geography is taught either through weekly lessons or enrichment days or weeks. Wherever appropriate cross-curricular links will be made, such as connections with history, science or maths e.g.: heritage of local area, rivers/water cycle, map coordinates.

Map work skills will be intertwined, advanced and revisited as the children move up the school. Knowledge of the UK and the world will be developed as children progress through the school from Year R to Year 6. Children will study their local area, the wider UK plus European and non-European counties of the wider world throughout their time at primary school.

Children will gain confidence and practical experiences of geographical knowledge and understanding, not just through experiences in the classroom but also with the use of fieldwork and educational visits, to explain how the earth's features at different scales are shaped, interconnected and change over time.

In addition, children will develop fundamental geographical skills: collecting and analysing data; using maps, globes, atlases and aerial photographs to name and identify countries, continents and oceans; and communicating information in a variety of ways. Planning will always focus on the combinations of skills, knowledge and vocabulary.