Geography

“The study of geography is about more than just memorising places on a map. It’s about understanding the complexity of our world, appreciating the diversity of cultures that exists across continents. And in the end, it’s about using all that knowledge to help bridge divides and bring people together.” President Barack Obama

Intent

At St Agnes, the study of geography involves our pupils exploring the relationship and interactions between people and the environments in which they live and upon which they and all life on Earth depends.

Many of the pupils who now attend our school will live to see the next century and inhabit a world of 11 billion people. The many opportunities and challenges that will arise during their lifetime will be very much about geography at personal, national and global scales.

We have established a school curriculum plan for geography as an entitlement for all pupils that is:

  • Aspirational - setting high expectations for all learners

  • Relevant and broad - connecting to pupils' lives and the wider world

  • Sequenced - building systematically on prior knowledge

  • Progressive - developing increasingly sophisticated understanding

  • Inclusive - ensuring all pupils can access and succeed

What we intend pupils to learn in geography reflects the world they will inherit and the geographical understanding they will need throughout their lifetime.

Implementation

We use the Connected Curriculum for humanities, which enables us to deliver our geography curriculum in a coherent and meaningful way.

Curriculum structure:

Our geography curriculum:

  • Starts with what children know and have experienced, moving from the familiar to the less familiar

  • Works from concrete to more abstract examples

  • Helps pupils acquire greater fluency with 'world knowledge'

  • Enables pupils to work with increasingly complex ideas and generalisations

  • Investigates people-environment relations

  • Applies geographical thinking to new contexts and situations

  • Develops increasingly precise language, ideas and skills

Teaching approach:

Through the Connected Curriculum, we ensure that:

  • Geography is taught in a way that makes meaningful connections with other subjects

  • Learning is sequenced coherently, building on prior knowledge

  • Pupils have opportunities to explore geography through their local area and wider contexts

  • Geographical skills and fieldwork are revisited regularly throughout the curriculum

  • Pupils develop both knowledge and understanding of places, processes and concepts

Key geographical skills:

Throughout their time at St Agnes, pupils will:

  • Use maps, atlases and globes

  • Develop fieldwork and observational skills

  • Collect and analyse data

  • Use geographical vocabulary with increasing precision

  • Make connections between different geographical contexts

  • Understand different perspectives and values

Impact

Through our geography curriculum, pupils at St Agnes will:

  • Understand the relationship and interactions between people and the environments in which they live

  • Be prepared for the opportunities and challenges of living in a world of 11 billion people

  • Have geographical knowledge and understanding at personal, national and global scales

  • Be able to explore and explain how people and environments are interconnected

  • Develop as geographically literate citizens who understand their place in the world

  • Have the geographical skills and knowledge needed to make sense of a rapidly changing world

  • Be equipped to participate as informed citizens in addressing geographical challenges

  • Understand the importance of sustainability and our responsibility to the planet

  • Be curious about the world and motivated to explore it

  • Have a curriculum experience that is aspirational, relevant, broad, sequenced, progressive and inclusive

Geography Progression