Geography
Subject Lead: Miss Houghton
At St Joseph’s, we are committed to ensuring the curriculum is broad, balanced and purposeful. We recognise that we are building the foundations for life-long learning with Christ at the centre. A shared love of literature throughout school and our faith life and Gospel values, Trust Character Virtues and British Values, sits alongside our curriculum drivers. Our curriculum drivers are what makes our curriculum unique to us here at St. Joseph’s. They are woven through all that we do and underpin our shared belief that our role is to support and help our children to understand their place within their local town, their country and in their world as a global citizen; to have experiences that become part of their life story; and aspire to achieve their very best, having been shown that there is a world of possibility awaiting them, outside of the school gates.
Intent
Our Geography curriculum is designed to stimulate children’s curiosity and interest in the world we live.
At St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy, we intend for children to:
- possess geographical understanding of places, people, natural and human environments, human and physical forms and processes
- ask questions and discover answers through exploration and research
- have knowledge and understanding of our changing world and their place in it
Implementation
At St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy we follow the National Curriculum, this is taught through exciting, relevant and age-appropriate topics.
Our bespoke curriculum allows pupils to explore their own identity, studying their own locality through local geography topics e.g. a Lower Key Stage 2 topic of erosion and deposition linked to the River Tees and a Key Stage 1 topic about the seaside. Wherever possible cross curricular links with other subjects are exploited. We encourage school visits and visitors into school to enable children to gain first-hand experiences to enrich their learning.
Our curriculum is designed using the theory of interleaving to ensure that concepts are systematically revisited to allow children to build a strong geographical schema, within their long-term memories.
These concepts are:
- location and place knowledge – name, identify, and locate places on a national and global scale
- geographical techniques and terms – geographical vocabulary, map reading and graphical methods
- physical features and processes – formation and changing of natural landscapes over time
- human interaction with the environment – identify land use, understand the impact of human activity on the environment and the impact of the environment on people
Each lesson begins with a retrieval task, this is a 10 minute activity which is linked to something taught earlier that term, that year group or phase. A 'retrieval revisit' is timetabled each week in KS2 to consolidate learning and inform future retrieval planning.
For each topic children are provided with a 'Learn it! Link it!' booklet which details facts about the topic, prior learning connected to the topic and a vocabulary bank.
Impact
Pupils will:
- have developed the geographical knowledge and skills to help them explore, navigate and understand the world around them and their place in it
- be a global citizen
- be prepared for the KS3 curriculum