Geography
Saint Mary’s Catholic Primary School
GEOGRAPHY CURRICULUM STATEMENT
Intent
Implementation
In EYFS Saint Mary’s utilises an enquiry-based approach where the learning is planned around the children’s interests. The children are given opportunities to make sense of their physical world and their community by exploring, observing, and finding out about people, places and the environment. The children will be encouraged to draw simple maps, recognise similarities and differences between their country and life in other countries and observe the changing seasons on the natural world around them.
In Key Stage 1 children begin to develop a geographical vocabulary by learning about where they live, as well as the countries within the United Kingdom. They will start to explore the seven continents of the world and the five oceans by exploring the natural habitats of animals. They also learn about weather patterns in the United Kingdom and hot and cold areas of the world. They use a variety of ICT, world maps, atlases and globes, simple compass directions, aerial photographs and plans, as well as simple fieldwork and observational skills.
In Key Stage 2 the children focus on developing three key areas of knowledge: locational knowledge, place knowledge and human and physical geography. They will explore the United Kingdom further and study specific continents of the world such as Europe, North
America and South America. They also learn about human geography and physical geography linking to volcanoes, rivers, climate, lakes.
Impact
Children enjoy Geography and this is evident from their books and how they talk about their learning with enthusiasm. Experiences outside of the classroom such as forest schools enrich learning and provide purpose and meaning. These opportunities allow children to apply skills taught in a real-life context. Our Geography curriculum strives to ensure that at the end of Key Stage 2 children have a bank of transferable skills such as research and observation which have been built upon and allowing them to successfully apply previously taught skills and knowledge.