We intend to develop children’s curiosity and a fascination of the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. Geography units at St Nicholas offer a range of opportunities for investigating places around the world as well as physical and human processes. Our lessons are intended to improve children’s geographical vocabulary, map skills and geographical facts and provide opportunities for consolidation, challenge and variety to ensure interest and progress in the subject. We teach a structure and sequence of lessons to ensure we have covered the skills required to meet the aims of the National Curriculum and EYFS Educational Programmes. The content allows for a broader, deeper understanding of the four areas of geography identified in the National Curriculum. Our Geography curriculum develops contextual knowledge of the location of globally significant places and understanding of the processes that give rise to key physical and human geographical features of the world, along with how they bring about variation and change over time.

We implement our Geography curriculum by ensuring that across both EYFS and KS1, children have a range of opportunities to experience geography through practical engaging tasks both in and beyond the classroom. Through revisiting and consolidating skills we help children build on prior knowledge alongside introducing new skills and challenge. All children expand on their skills in local knowledge, place knowledge, human and physical geography, geographical skills and fieldwork. In KS1, children begin to use maps and recognise physical and human features to do with the local area, building to using maps to explore the continents and oceans of the world in Year 2. Further, in Year 2, children will begin to compare where they live to places outside of Europe and ask and answer geographical questions. Our units come with end of assessments descriptors to give those teaching geography confidence in the progression of skills and knowledge and that outcomes have been met. Key words are also highlighted to be used by children to deepen their geographical knowledge – these are displayed in classrooms and added to as the year goes on. Geography is captured in whole class floorbooks, with pieces of writing being found in children’s books where applicable.

We believe that the impact of our Geography curriculum is that geography learning is loved by  pupils across school. All children will use geographical vocabulary accurately and understand the different strands of geography, with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes. Children will begin to make relevant links from geography to other curriculum subjects, such as history and science. They will improve their enquiry skills and inquisitiveness about the world around them, and their impact on the world. All children will realise that they have choices to make in the world, developing a positive commitment to the environment and the future of the planet. Children will become competent in collecting, analysing and communicating a range of data gathered. They will be able to interpret a range of sources of geographical information and they will communicate geographical information in a variety of ways. All children in the school will be able to speak confidently about their geography learning, skills and knowledge.