Geography

Subject Lead: Mr L Bloomfield

Curriculum Rationale - Geography

Intent 

The Geography Curriculum in our school aims to inspire pupil curiosity about their world and to engage them in outdoor learning and geographical enquiry. By the end of Year 6, we intend for our pupils to be confident geographers who have a good understanding of place and locational knowledge and an awareness of how both physical and human processes have shaped the world that they live in. We are also developing the children’s ability to apply geographical skills to enable them to confidently communicate their findings and geographical understanding to a range of audiences. We are committed to providing children with opportunities to investigate and make enquiries about their local area of Gateshead and the wider county of Tyne & Wear so that they can develop a real sense of who they are, their heritage and what makes our local area unique and special. Furthermore, we recognise that the world is rapidly changing around us and we want our children to be aware of issues including global warming, population growth and diminishing resources.  

 

Implementation

The curriculum has been sequenced to enable pupils to gradually widen their sense of scale from their immediate geography to the global world, building on their knowledge as they progress through school. Key questions have been implemented for each topic to allow learners to consider how the world around us shapes and enriches our lives.  

Early Years 

In EYFS the children will recognise similarities and differences in relation to places, objects, materials and living things. They can talk about the features of their own immediate environment and how environments might vary from one another.  

Key Stage 1 

In KS1 the children focus on their immediate surroundings at school and local area whilst gaining a brief overview of the world around them including the UK, continents and oceans, and the hot and cold regions of the earth, and begin to make comparisons between them.   

Key Stage 2 

In KS2, the children’s place knowledge extends from investigating Gateshead through to learning about other regions of the UK, Europe and the world. These studies provide opportunities for in-depth comparisons of physical and human features and how they impact the world that we live in. 

Threaded through our curriculum in both KS1 and KS2 are opportunities to develop key geographical skills through use of physical and digital maps and atlases, educational visits and field work and digital resources to explore key regions. Significant technical and geographical vocabulary is mapped and used throughout; allowing children to build a rich bank of geographical language.  

 

Impact

Our children will become confident geographers with: 

• An enthusiasm for their local area and a curiosity for the world around them and the people who live there.  

• An excellent knowledge of where places are and what they are like, both in Britain and the wider world. 

• A comprehensive understanding of the ways in which places are interdependent and interconnected. 

• The ability to reach clear conclusions and explain their findings. 

• A growing understanding of how humans affect the planet and ways in which we can help. 

We want children to question the impact of their learning and have posed the question ‘How does the world around us shape and enrich our lives?’ 

 

Overview