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St. Edmund’s Catholic Primary School
Geography Intent Document
Intent
At St Edmund’s Catholic Primary School, we are GEOGRAPHERS! We want our children to be enthusiastic about Geography and to develop a greater understanding and knowledge of the world, as well as their place in it. We want them to have no limits to what their ambitions are and grow up wanting to be transport planners, environmental consultants or landscape architects. We recognise the key role that Geography plays in equipping our children with skills that they can use for life, allowing them to become curious to explore the world around them and develop a passion for looking after our precious world.
Our curriculum document enables children to develop their knowledge and understanding of location and place, by exploring the human and physical features of their local area, Skelmersdale, and comparing it with other regions around the world. From the Lake District to Italy, the Amazon Basin to the Everglades, we aim to provide our children with greater sense of the wider world.
The children will develop their geographical skills, by using maps to expand their knowledge and understanding of compass directions, grid references, symbols and keys. The children will have access to maps in different forms such as simple maps, globes, atlases, ordnance survey maps and aerial photos.
The children will partake in field work, to develop their understanding of the local environment and current issues. They will use their fieldwork to communicate those issues and how they can be improved with the community and local bodies.
Implementation
Geography is taught as a driver subject (Explore) for one term each school year. Our Geography curriculum is designed, so each child’s Geographical journey, begins with ‘themselves’ and their school, moving on to the local area, before extending to the United Kingdom, Europe and the rest of the world. The children will then develop their age-related mapping skills and finalise the term with a field work project. The project will include the children communicating their ideas to a local body, e.g. the local government.
We teach our children in mixed aged classes; therefore, substantive knowledge will be taught over a two cycle (A & B). The disciplinary knowledge is age-related, so that all children can develop their Geography skills in a linear progression.
Appropriate vocabulary has been selected, which will be taught during daily vocabulary sessions, to ensure a greater understanding of the subject area.
Impact
Our Geography curriculum offers high quality and well-planned lessons, which encourage progression. Key vocabulary is embedded in each lesson. Continuity and progression in the curriculum is built around substantive and disciplinary knowledge within Geography. These are broken into year group expectations.
In order to ensure our aims have been met, we scrutinise learning through:
- Assessing children’s understanding of the topic including linked vocabulary before and after the unit is taught. – Prior and Post learning activity.
- Talking to children during the lesson to ensure they have understood the learning objective – Assessment for learning.
- Mark completed work – Assessment for learning
The above enables the teacher to make an informed judgement on the children’s understanding and record their geographic ability on the school tracking tool ‘itrack’.
