Intent:
Geography at St Cuthbert’s is designed to encourage a fascination of the world and to inspire children to curiously explore the world around them. Children will know, remember and understand more; they will be able to draw on prior learning and geographical skills to support their learning.
Implementation:
Children will begin their studies looking at the local area of Crook, Bishop Auckland and County Durham before moving on to the North East as a whole. They will investigate physical and human features and processes to develop a real sense of their heritage, what makes our area unique and how it compares to the wider world. Children will explore other countries and compare them to our own. Geographical skills will be developed throughout, allowing children to confidently apply them to their everyday lives.
The geography curriculum will be overseen by The Geography Lead, who will regularly monitor, evaluate, and celebrate good practice. Along with teaching staff, The Geography Lead will contribute and commit to improving Geography teaching throughout the school.
- In KS1, Geography skills will focus on local Geography. Children will investigate their immediate locality to better understand their place in the world. This will then be expanded to look at the wider world, exploring why our world is special through locations of geographical importance in order to form a baseline for KS2.
- In KS2, Children will continue to look at their local area, beginning with the North East as a whole, before looking at various areas in greater depth. Their use of maps and reading skills will be developed and built upon throughout. Children will develop a knowledge of cities, coasts, trade, forests, and food, as well as how we shape the world around us.
- Mixed classes in KS2 will work on a four year cycle with different topics being completed each year. Classes 3,4 and 5 will learn about the same topics however their lessons will vary based upon the intended progression for each year group.
- Cross-Curricular links will be made, where appropriate, to allow the teaching of geography to influence the wider curriculum in an exciting and motivating way.
- Children will develop a genuine interest in the subject and a real sense of curiosity about the world and the people who live here.
Impact:
When pupils leave St Cuthbert’s, they will know more, remember more, and understand more about Geography. They will have developed the geographical knowledge and skills to help them explore, navigate, and understand the world around them and their place in it as well as how to support and sustain the planet.
They will be prepared to move onto a KS3 curriculum.