What is Geography?

At St. Andrew’s, we believe that Geography is the development our children’s knowledge about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key processes.

Through the eyes of our children, Geography is important because:

‘It helps us to know about the world locally and beyond and our place within it. Geography helps us to deepen our understanding of the links between physical and human features.’

Early Learning Goals

Children are given the opportunities through Understanding the World : The World to:

• know about similarities and differences in relation to places, objects, materials and living things.
• talk about the features of their own immediate environment and how environments might vary from one another.
• make observations of animals and plants and explain why some things occur, and talk about changes

National Curriculum

A high-quality geography education should inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. Teaching should 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 should 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 knowledge provides the tools and approaches that explain how the Earth’s features at different scales are shaped, interconnected and change over time.

Curriculum Intent

At St. Andrew’s Church of England Primary School, we aim for our children to develop curiosity and be fascinated about the world and the people in it. We want to equip children with knowledge about diverse places, people, and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes.

Our curriculum for geography aims to ensure that all pupils:

• develop contextual knowledge of the location of places, seas and oceans, including their defining physical and human characteristics
• 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. 

Implementation:

The teaching and implementation of the Geography curriculum at St. Andrew’s C.E. Primary School is based on the Early Learning Goals and National Curriculum and supported by expectations from Chris Quigley Milestones, ensuring a well-structured approach.

Our pupils should be able to organise their knowledge, skills and understanding on the following key concepts:

• · Investigate places;
• · Investigate patterns;
• · Communicate geographically. 

These key concepts underpin learning in each milestone. This enables pupils to reinforce and build upon prior learning, make connections and develop subject specific language. 

Our Geography curriculum is taught over three terms each year and the curriculum is designed to develop knowledge and skills that are progressive as well as transferable. We aim to ensure that, when appropriate, Geography is integrated into other areas of the curriculum and the basic skills are taught throughout the year through cross curricular work.

At St. Andrew’s, we are dedicated to the teaching and delivery of a high-quality Geography curriculum through well planned and resourced projects and experiences. We have determined that Geography will taught in bespoke units across the school year. During Geography units, where appropriate, our children draw upon subject knowledge and skills within Mathematics, Science, Computing and Art to make links and connections between subjects.

Impact

Through the explicit teaching of the Geography skills, teachers and the children assess their learning continuously throughout the lesson. At the end of each unit, teachers complete unit evaluations, assessing attainment against the Chris Quigley Essentials milestones to make informed judgements about the depth of their learning and the progress children have made over time.