Geography

Aims and Purposes (Intent):

The aim of our geography curriculum is to inspire pupil’s curiosity, interest and appreciation for the world that we live in and its people; a curiosity and fascination that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. Pupils will develop their knowledge about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, as well as developing a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes. An insight will be gained by pupils into the links between physical and human processes and how landscapes and environments have changed and continue to change. Children will study a variety of real places at different scales and will explore how the people living there are influenced by, and affect, the environment of those places.

Geography helps to provoke and provide answers to questions about the natural and human aspects of the world. We aim to develop pupil’s ideas, philosophy and geographical thinking by allowing them to question, investigate and study the environment and world around them. We also aim to equip pupils for their later life, and prepare them effectively for the social, economic and environmental surroundings of our modern world. Increasing awareness of environmental issues and the impact humans have, aims to encourage pupils to become reflective members of society, who consider their actions and choices and actively invest in protecting the planet.

How Geography is taught and learnt (Implementation):

High quality first teaching is provided to all pupils. Pupils at St. Michael’s are constantly exposed and immersed in developing key geographical vocabulary, and high quality resources are used to explore geographical themes and bring the world to the classroom, including maps, atlases, globes, photographs, videos, diagrams, plans, graphs and data, and geographical information systems. Consideration is given to how greater depth will be taught, learnt and demonstrated within each lesson, as well as how learners will be supported in line with the school’s commitment to inclusion. Cross-curricular links are used by teachers wherever possible to further enhance geographical teaching and learning (e.g. English texts, Science, PSHE issues, MFL, Maths).

As Geography is an investigative subject, pupils are provided with opportunities to explore, investigate and learn for themselves throughout the school. Each geography unit is titled with an investigative question that pupils will be encouraged to answer through building up knowledge, understanding and skills through the unit as guided by the teacher.

We aim to deliver a high quality geography curriculum, not just through the experiences in the classroom, but also with the use of fieldwork in the local area and educational visits. In all year groups, opportunities to develop their knowledge and understanding of geography in their local area are fully utilised, as well as opportunities to develop a range of geographical skills. Pupils will have opportunities to collect, analyse and communicate data through fieldwork, and will interpret a range of geographical information in the form of maps, diagrams, globes, aerial photographs and Geographical Information Systems. Pupils will be taught to communicate their geographical understanding in a number of ways including using maps, numerical and quantitative skills, and writing at length. The geography curriculum at St. Michael’s enables children to develop knowledge and progressive skills that are transferable to other curriculum areas and which can and are used to promote their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

In order to make learning as relevant to the pupils as possible, teachers are encouraged to focus on development issues and geographical issues that their local area and the world is facing right now, and adapt to accommodate pupil’s questions, viewpoints and ideas. As pupils are increasingly concerned about the environmental change that is occurring on a global level, the St. Michael’s curriculum has included a focus in every year group on climate change, sustainability or an environmental issue. Reactive geography such as this, informs pupils of worldwide events that are being reported in the news and further builds their understanding of physical geography and place knowledge. It also inspires pupils to be curious and fascinated in the world around them, as well as encourages them to be active and reflective members of their community.