Purpose of study

A high-quality geography education will inspire in pupils a lifelong curiosity and fascination about the world and its people. Teaching should equip pupils with knowledge about places, people, resources and natural and human environments. Pupils should also be taught to understand the Earth’s key physical and human processes. Geographical knowledge, understanding and skills provide pupils with the frameworks and approaches that explain how the Earth’s features at different scales are shaped, interconnected and change over time.

Aims

The school geography curriculum aims to ensure that all pupils:

• know the location of globally significant places – both terrestrial and marine – including their defining physical and human characteristics and how these provide a geographical context for understanding the actions of processes
• understand the processes that give rise to key physical and human geographical features of the world, how these are interdependent and how they bring about spatial variation and change over time
• are competent in the geographical skills needed to:
• collect, analyse and communicate with a range of data gathered through experiences of fieldwork that deepen their understanding of geographical processes
• interpret a range of sources of geographical information, including maps, diagrams, globes, aerial photographs and Geographical Information Systems (GIS)
• communicate geographical information in a variety of ways, including through maps, and writing at length

Organisation

• There are three geography units of work in each year group. These can either be taught in isolation or combined with other subjects in specific topic areas. Teachers have freedom to place their geography units anywhere over the school year, which then informs their long-term curriculum plan.
• Geography units have been chosen to offer breadth of geographical skills and fieldwork, place knowledge, locational knowledge, and a balance of human and physical geography. Our geography curriculum ensures children engage regularly with the outside world and develop skills in meaningful and current contexts. We believe that first hand experiences are essential learning opportunities for our children.

For more information, including the skills, knowledge and areas of study for KS1 and KS2, please see our school's curriculum overview below: