Geography

Geography Statement of Intent

Our school curriculum is driven and shaped by our school vision, which informs everything that we do.

St Nicholas provides a welcoming, inclusive and aspirational learning environment at the heart of its community. We nurture, encourage and support all children, adults and their families to be the best as God intended. Following God’s example of love and trust, we develop resilience and creativity in all we do.

Learning, loving and encouraging through Christ.

An uncompromising focus on pupils’ personal development has made St Nicholas Church of England Primary Academy a place where pupils always come first. Ofsted 2019

Aims and Objectives

At St Nicholas Primary School we believe a high-quality geography education should inspire children’s curiosity and fascination about the world around them. The teaching of geography should equip children with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments. As they progress, their knowledge of the world, its processes and environments, will develop. They will begin to understand how its features and landscapes have changed over time.

At St Nicholas Primary School, we teach geography using a topic approach. We start with an overarching theme that engages the children. This same approach is used throughout KS1 and KS2. This learning is continued outside the classroom where we have links with the local community which help us to give the children first hand experiences.

Teaching and Learning

At St Nicholas we follow the national curriculum programmes of study. We then develop our own creative, topic planning using a progression of skills document to ensure that our curriculum is progressive. We teach the key aspects of geography including locational knowledge, place knowledge and geographical skills and fieldwork through this topic style approach.

Key Stage One – Pupils will develop knowledge about the world, the United Kingdom and their locality. They will understand basic subject-specific vocabulary relating to human and physical geography and begin to use geographical skills, including first-hand observation, to enhance their locational awareness.

Key Stage Two – Pupils will begin to extend their knowledge and understanding beyond the local area to include the United Kingdom and Europe, Asia and other locations. This will include the location and characteristics of a range of the world’s most significant human and physical features. They should develop their use of geographical knowledge, understanding and skills to enhance their locational and place knowledge.

Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Aspects of the Geography Curriculum

Through Geography children will be able to develop the following:

Spiritual

As Geography is the study of real places and real people, it continually develops students spiritually. For example, when looking at natural disasters such as Earthquakes, volcanoes or Tsunamis, a fascination of the world around them is developed and reflected upon. The study of population and globalisation also allows students to reflect on their own principles and the impact this has on a global scale. Throughout, topics like this enable students to reflect and share their own experiences and the diverse nature of our classes really enhances discussion within this area. Imagination and creativity underpins much of what we do, where students are stretched in activities. Geography evokes awe and wonder and provides a sense of enjoyment and fascination through their learning.

Moral

Geography is a subject that lends itself to investigations, discussions and a consideration of different viewpoints. Many of the geographical topics have a moral element to them. For example when considering physical topics such as rivers, flooding and coasts consideration is given to how much these issues that arise are man-made and leads us to consider wider issues such as exploitation. Similarly debate centres on the role of humans and how ethical some actions may be. Geography allows students to see and explore consequences of mismanagement, and also to look at the situations from different points of view. Debates allow pupils different roles in decision making processes which helps develop genuine compassion and provides opportunities to appreciate the opinions of others. Through our units, children develop their ability to focus on right and wrong and begin to apply this understanding to their own lives.

Social

Through Geography sessions, pupils use a range of social skills in different contexts and many units involve the study of real people in different societies. Work within the subject allows them to express their opinions and communicate their knowledge in varied ways as well as cooperating with others. Fieldwork and classroom opportunities that the geography curriculum provides, enhances social development as pupils develop important collaborative skills This in turn causes children to reflect on their own sense of identity and their sense of community is strengthened.

Cultural

The topics covered lend themselves to exploration of their own identities and others. An essential component of Geography is place knowledge. By understanding the features and characteristics their local area, children understand its features and are then able to contrast this to where they live with more distant localities, in this country and abroad. This understanding ensures children are aware of the cultural traditions associated with the place they are studying, as well as our own multicultural society.