Geography
What is the intent of our geography curriculum?
Our ambitious, knowledge-rich curriculum has been sequenced to equip our pupils with the knowledge and skills to ensure they are happy, healthy global citizens, ready to take their place in modern Britain. The broad and balanced curriculum is creative, coherent and inclusive and, together with our Christian values, enables the pupils to be self-motivated, independent learners.
At John Keble school, we aim to provide a curriculum that meets the aims of the National Curriculum whilst providing a structure and sequence to support teachers in inspiring our pupils to become curious learners and develop a fascination about the world. Our curriculum content allows for a broader, deeper understanding of the four areas of geography identified in the curriculum. We intend to develop pupils’ contextual knowledge of the location of globally significant places and understanding of the processes that give rise to key physical and human geographical features of the world, along with how they bring about variation and change over time. Our curriculum offers a range of opportunities for investigating places around the world as well as the Earth’s key physical and human processes. As our pupils progress, their growing knowledge about the world will help them to deepen their understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes, and of the formation and use of landscapes and environments. Our coverage intends to improve children’s geographical vocabulary, map skills and geographical facts and provide opportunities for consolidation, challenge, and variety to ensure interest and progress in the subject.
How do we implement the geography curriculum at John Keble School?
In KS1, children begin to use maps and recognise physical and human features to do with the local area, building to using maps to explore the continents and oceans of the world in year 2.
In year 2, children will begin to compare where they live to places outside of Europe and ask and answer geographical questions.
In KS2, map skills are developed further using digital maps, more keys and symbols and children begin to use more fieldwork skills. Through revisiting and consolidating skills, our lesson plans and resources help children build on prior knowledge alongside introducing new skills and challenges. All children expand on their skills in local knowledge, place knowledge, human and physical geography, geographical skills and fieldwork.
Across both key stages, children have a range of opportunities to experience geography through practical engaging tasks beyond the classroom.
What is the impact of our geography curriculum?
We believe that the impact of our curriculum is that geography learning is loved by teachers and pupils across school. Furthermore, teachers have higher expectations and more quality evidence can be presented in books.
All children will use geographical vocabulary accurately and understand the different strands of geography, with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes. Children will begin to make relevant links from geography to other curriculum subjects, such as history and science. They will improve their enquiry skills and inquisitiveness about the world around them, and their impact on the world. All children will realise that they have choices to make in the world, developing a positive commitment to the environment and the future of the planet.
Children will become competent in collecting, analysing and communicating a range of data gathered. They will be able to interpret a range of sources of geographical information and they will communicate geographical information in a variety of ways. All children in the school will be able to speak confidently about their geography learning, skills, and knowledge.
For a more in depth look at our geography curriculum, download the link:
