We believe that our children deserve a broad and ambitious geography curriculum, rich in knowledge and skills. Our curriculum is designed to provide our children with the subject specific language they need to describe, understand and formulate meaningful questions about landscapes, climates, elements of human geography and cultures and their impact on the world. The curriculum is sequenced to ensure that pupils revisit concepts with increasing sophistication as they move from year to year and from EYFS to KS1 and KS2. Key concepts and themes such as climate, physical geography, human influence and the impact of geography on human culture are interwoven. The curriculum offer is suitably challenging and carefully adapted to ensure that all pupils can secure the core knowledge and skills required for future learning.    

Implementation

The Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum supports children’s understanding of geography through the planning and teaching of ‘Understanding the World.’ In the early years, children acquire the building blocks of an understanding of place, space and scale; they describe their immediate environment using knowledge from observation, discussion, stories, non-fiction texts and maps; ​children are taught to explore the natural world around them, making observations and drawing pictures of animals and plants;​ they begin to know some similarities and differences between the natural world around them and contrasting environments drawing on their experiences and what has been read to them in class; they start to understand some important processes and changes in the natural world around them, including the seasons and weather.  

Key Stage one and two

The implementation of the United Curriculum for Geography reflects the broader teaching and learning principles, of the United Learning curriculum found below…

For geography in particular:

•Content is always carefully situated within existing schemas. For example, map skills cannot be covered in a single task; concepts of map skills are built on methodically and logically over time through careful planning. In early years pupils begin to identify features of their local area; in KS1, pupils apply directional vocabulary to features; and by KS2, pupils use map symbols and grid references on OS maps to describe the locations of features. 

•Vertical concepts are used within lessons to connect aspects of learning. For example, when learning about migration, pupils will review population structures, natural hazards and types of settlement when considering the reasons why people voluntarily or forcibly move from one place to another.

•Opportunities for extended, scholarly writing appear throughout the curriculum. These have a clear purpose and audience and, crucially, allow pupils to write as a geographer. For example, after considering the hazards and benefits associated with volcanic activity and the ways in which humans can prepare for volcanic events, pupils write a discussion explaining why they would or would not live near a volcano.

The United Curriculum for geography provides all children, regardless of their background, with:

•Relevant and coherent substantive knowledge of the world, which is built gradually using subject-specific pedagogy from EYFS to Year 6 and beyond.

•Substantive knowledge – both conceptual and procedural – is selected to build pupils’ understanding of three geographical vertical concepts:

•Space and Place:

Developing an understanding of space through ideas related to location, distribution, pattern and distance.

Developing a sense of place and character through ideas related to identity, home, community, landscapes and diversity, and examining a range of case studies from across the globe.

•Physical Processes

How the Earth’s natural processes shape and change the surface of the Earth. This includes both Geology & Earth Science aspects, such as the structure of the Earth and physical features we see on the land, as well as Environmental Science aspects, such as the weather and our changing climate. Both of these are threaded through the science curriculum too.

•Human Processes

The processes and phenomena that are caused by or relate to people, including our Use of Resources; the distribution and changes to the Population & Communities; and the features of the Economy & Development.

•A balanced view of the countries of the world, to address or even pre-empt misconceptions and negative stereotypes.

•Explicit teaching of core disciplinary knowledge, and the ability to approach challenging, geographically-valid questions. Geographical enquiry skills have been sequenced across the year groups and, where appropriate, review and build on relevant knowledge that is first taught in mathematics or science, such as interpreting line graphs or setting hypotheses.

•Opportunities to undertake fieldwork, outside the classroom and virtually. Fieldwork is purposeful, and either gives pupils the opportunity to put into practice relevant disciplinary knowledge or to reinforce their substantive knowledge. 

Impact
Outcomes in topic booklets and literacy books, evidence a broad and balanced geography curriculum and demonstrate children’s acquisition of identified key knowledge. Children review their successes in achieving the lesson objectives at the end of every session and are actively encouraged to reflect upon previous terms learning. Children also record what they have learned comparative to their starting points at the end of every topic – through end of unit assessment tasks.

​As children progress throughout the school, they develop a deep knowledge, understanding an appreciation of their local area and its place within the wider geographical context. Where possible, children are offered opportunities to learn about careers related to geography from members of the local and wider community with specialist skills and knowledge, ensuring that they are well prepared for the next steps of their education.

Formative assessment is prioritised to check the impact the curriculum is having and is focused on whether pupils are keeping up with the curriculum.

In general, this is done through:

•Questioning in lessons. Teachers check pupils’ understanding so they can fill gaps and address misconceptions as required.

•Pupil conferencing with books. Subject leads and SLT talk to pupils about what they have learnt – both substantive and disciplinary knowledge – and how this connects to the vertical concepts that they have been developing in previous years and other subjects. For example, pupils in Key Stage Two may be asked to talk about how the tropical rainforest biome is similar to and different from hot and cold deserts, and how these biomes are affected by human activity such as deforestation or migration.

•Post-learning quizzes at the end of each unit. These give teachers an understanding of the knowledge that pupils can recall at the end of the unit, and they can be used to identify any remaining gaps to be filled. The quizzes are generally made up of simple recall questions, such as naming key places or features, using map skills, identifying the causes of flooding or giving the effects of an earthquake.

•Pre-learning quizzes at the start of each unit. These assess the extent to which pupils have the prior knowledge that is required to access the new content in the unit. Accordingly, the quizzes are used to identify gaps to be filled prior to teaching the new unit.