Geography Subject Statement

 

Perseverance – Children are encouraged to approach geographical enquiry with resilience, developing the confidence to interpret maps, analyse data and investigate places even when concepts are challenging.

Ambition – Our curriculum promotes high expectations for all pupils, ensuring they develop secure geographical knowledge and skills while building confidence to think critically about the world around them.

Curiosity – The curriculum fosters curiosity about the world by encouraging our children to ask questions about places, environments and human activity, deepening their understanding of global connections.

Kindness – Children develop respect for different communities, cultures and environments, understanding their responsibility to care for the planet and value diversity within the world’s places and people.

 

Curriculum Intent

At St John’s Primary School, we strive to inspire our children to become curious and explorative thinkers with a diverse knowledge of the world; in other words, to think like geographers. We want our children to develop the confidence to question and observe places, measure and record necessary data in various ways, and analyse and present their findings.

Our intent is to ensure that children:

  • Develop a secure understanding of the world, including the location and characteristics of a range of places at local, national and global scales.
  • Understand key physical and human geographical features, including how landscapes and environments are formed, used and changed over time.
  • Gain knowledge of diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, and how these are interconnected.
  • Understand how human activity impacts the planet and recognise the importance of sustainability and environmental responsibility.
  • Think critically, ask geographical questions and interpret a range of sources such as maps, atlases, aerial photographs and digital technologies.
  • Develop fieldwork skills, enabling them to observe, measure, record and present geographical information in a variety of ways.
  • Understand key geographical concepts such as place, space, scale, interdependence, physical and human processes, and environmental impact.
  • Develop their geographical vocabulary and communicate their understanding clearly and confidently.

 

Through our scheme of learning, we aim to build an awareness of how Geography shapes our lives at multiple scales and over time. We hope to encourage children to become resourceful, active citizens who will have the skills to contribute to and improve the world around them.

 

Curriculum Implementation

The National Curriculum organises the Geography attainment targets under four subheadings or strands:

  • Locational knowledge
  • Place knowledge
  • Human and physical geography
  • Geographical skills and fieldwork

Geography at St John’s is taught through the Kapow Primary scheme, which provides a clear and progressive sequence of learning from EYFS to Year 6. Lessons build children’s knowledge of place, space and environmental processes while developing key geographical skills such as map reading, fieldwork, enquiry and data interpretation. Children explore a range of local, national and global locations, helping them make meaningful connections between people, places and the environment. Teachers use a variety of engaging resources, including maps, images, discussion and practical enquiry, to support understanding and deepen geographical thinking. Opportunities for retrieval, vocabulary development and cross-curricular links ensure pupils revisit and embed key knowledge over time.

 

Curriculum Impact

Regular reviews of teaching, learning and progress are made through lesson observations, learning walks, book reviews and pupil voice.

In each unit, children demonstrate their understanding of key geographical knowledge and skills through discussion, enquiry and recorded work which are all used to inform our formative assessment. They develop a secure understanding of place, location and environmental processes, and can use geographical vocabulary with increasing confidence. Through progressive learning across the school, pupils become more skilled in using maps, interpreting data and carrying out fieldwork. As a result, children leave primary school with a strong awareness of the world around them, an understanding of how people and environments are connected, and the curiosity to continue exploring geography in their future learning.