Geography

At Moordown St John’s, we aspire for all children to ‘be the best me’ through abroad and balanced curriculum, which provides rich learning opportunities to develop subject knowledge alongside fundamental skills. Our Geography curriculum is designed is designed to give children an appreciation and deeper understanding of both the natural and the human world around them. We want to inspire children to learn, explore and value the richness of our world and the diversity within this. Our Geography curriculum makes links with our locality and its landmarks, and compares these with other locations around the world. Where possible, our Geography curriculum makes links with the places studied to those into the History curriculum to deepen understanding through cross-curricular links and interleaved learning.

Intent: What we expect children to learn

Through Geography, we aim to inspire children in their appreciation for the wonderful world around us. Children will investigate places using their fieldwork and observational skills to draw their own conclusions. They will be able to use appropriate geographical resources including maps, atlases, aerial photographs and other images to describe in the features of different places around the world. All children will be taught to investigate patterns to understand the similarities and differences between locations, as well as describing how some locations have changed over time. Children will communicate Geographically using a range of key vocabulary to describe natural and human features, as well as interpreting and creating maps, keys and symbols.

Implementation: How we teach the subject

Geography skills and knowledge are embedded within all lessons and developed throughout the journey of the Geography curriculum. Our curriculum strands for geography are: To investigate places, to investigate patterns and to communicate geographically. Teachers plan engaging and informative lessons, which draw upon previous learning and cross-curricular links to embed learning, as well as using assessment meaningfully to identify next steps. 

Each year group has three geography units, which are interspersed with History units to provide a rich humanities education. Learning is embedded by making links to History and Science curriculum to create connections between knowledge. Reading underpins all aspects of learning with teachers using key texts to engage children and promote reading for pleasure. Children will also be given experiences through educational visits and guest speakers to bring learning to life.

Impact: How we evaluate the knowledge and skills they have learned  

Through an engaging and exciting Geography curriculum, all children will make progress and develop their skills and knowledge. By the end of their primary education, pupils will be able to:

• Use fieldwork and observation skills to investigate places.
• Name and locate many of the countries and cities of the world.
• Identify human and natural characteristics of places.
• Identify latitude, longitude, the Equator, the Northern Hemisphere, the Southern Hemisphere, the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, The Arctic and Antarctic circles, and time zones.
• Describe similarities and differences between locations.
• Describe how some locations have changed over time.
• Read and create maps using symbols and a key.
• Use a range of vocabulary to communicate geographically.

Children are assessed in a variety of ways allowing them to demonstrate their knowledge and overcome barriers to learning, such as difficulties with reading and writing.

Progression Map: