Curriculum Intent
At St. John Fisher we believe that Geography helps to provoke and provide answers to questions about the natural and human aspects of the world. Children are encouraged to be ‘Geographers’ and to develop a greater understanding and knowledge of the world around us, as well as their place in it.
The geography curriculum at St. John Fisher enables all children, including disadvantaged children and those who have Special Educational Needs to develop their knowledge and skills that are transferable to other curriculum areas which allow children to develop their skills by questioning and exploring.
Curriculum Documents
Geography is, by nature, an investigative subject, which develops an understanding of concepts, knowledge, and skills. This is sequenced so that skills are revisited and built upon year on year. We seek to inspire in children a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people which will remain with them for the rest of their lives; to promote the children’s interest and understanding of diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes.
The areas for study reflect the makeup of our school and our community. Whilst reflecting upon Bourdieu’s work on cultural capital and the skills and opportunities required for children to succeed in modern Britain, we aim to include as many wider opportunities for all children as possible.
Curriculum Implementation
To ensure high standards of teaching and learning in geography, we implement a curriculum that is progressive throughout the whole school. Geography is taught as part of a termly topic, focusing on knowledge and skills stated in the National Curriculum. At St John Fisher, we ensure that geography has the same importance given to it as the core subjects, as we feel this is important in enabling all children to gain ‘real-life’ experiences.
The geography curriculum at St John Fisher is based upon the 2014 Primary National Curriculum in England, which provides the broad framework and outlines the knowledge and skills and taught in each Key Stage. Teachers plan lessons for their class using our progression document. Teachers can use this document to plan their geography lessons suitable to their class interests and what they want to learn. The progression document ensures the curriculum is covered and the skills/knowledge taught is progressive from year group to year group.
When teaching geography, the teachers should follow the children’s interests to ensure their learning is engaging, broad and balanced.
Geography teaching focuses on enabling children to think as geographers. A variety of teaching approaches are used based on the teacher’s judgement.
Geography provides excellent opportunities to enhance the learning of more able pupils through the investigations, analysing sources and writing extending pieces.
At St John Fisher we provide a variety of opportunities for geography learning inside and outside the classroom.
Educational visits are another opportunity for the teachers to plan for additional geography learning outside the classroom, however, these haven’t been possible recently due to Covid, so teachers have looked at virtual experiences instead. At St John Fisher we are fortunate enough to have substantial grounds where many geographical skills can be conducted. Local museums also provide an opportunity to further geography learning, as well as trips to local woods, castles and using map reading skills during residential trips.
