Intent
At St. Joseph’s, we want our children to have a curiosity and fascination of the world that will stay with them through their lives. We understand how it has never been more important for children to have a comprehensive global understanding of our world and the peoples and cultures that inhabit it. Through this understanding, children will develop respect for the physical world and the vast scope of cultures that make up our diverse planet.
We aim to develop our children’s interest in a variety of physical and human environments in the wider world by expanding horizons beyond their local community. Where applicable practical geographical skills will be put into practice outside the classroom through local field work and educational visits.
Our primary focus is for all children to have a deeper understanding of the world, people, places and environments and how they are changing over time. We will try to ensure that our children are able to use maps effectively to locate and identify themselves and locations further away.
We believe that children should be engaged with sustainability issues, in their local environment and as part of a wider global community. To be successful geographers, children should think about how their actions affect their local community and how they can help to be a part of a solution to current climate and sustainability issues.
Implementation
The Geography curriculum at St Joseph’s is primarily linked to topics or English through our Novel Study approach wherever possible. Whilst the school looks to incorporate Geography as part of a wider link with other curriculum lessons, linking Geography with other subjects as and where this is appropriate, it also protects discrete Geography objectives where this is not appropriate. As with all other foundation subjects, the children’s’ progress of key skills is tracked throughout each Key Stage.
Impact
As children progress throughout the school, they develop a deep knowledge, understanding and appreciation of their local area and its place within the wider geographical context.
Our Geography curriculum is high quality, well thought out and is planned to demonstrate progression. Within geography, we create a supportive and collaborative ethos for learning by providing opportunities for investigative and enquiry based learning. Children deepen their understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes and how this affects landscapes and environments
Outcomes in pupil’s books show a broad and balanced geography curriculum is being taught and demonstrate children’s acquisition of identified key knowledge.
We show and demonstrate progression of knowledge and skills and measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:
- Assessing children’s understanding of topic
- Summative assessment of pupil discussions about their learning.
- Images of the pupil’s practical learning.
- Moderation staff meetings where pupil’s books are scrutinised and there is the opportunity for a dialogue between teachers to understand their class’s work.
- Marking of written work in books.
Geography Curriculum
