Geography
Intent
The vision that underpins our school and everything that happens here, at St. John’s school, are our school aims of ‘nurture, learn, succeed, together’. Through our curriculum every individual is recognised and valued as special and unique in the image and likeness of God following St. John’s example to ‘prepare the way of the lord’. At St. John’s we aim to inspire curiosity and fascination about the world that will remain with the children for a lifetime. Children are encouraged to develop a greater understanding of the world as well as their place in it. We want children to develop a love for Geography during lessons as well as inspire them to be curious and fascinated about the world and the people who inhabit it. We want to promote the children’s interest and understanding of the different places, people, resources and natural and human environments of the world as well as develop skills that are transferable to other curriculum areas.
Implementation
At St. John’s, Geography is taught in blocks with six sessions per topic to ensure children can reach greater depths in the learning. Teachers worked together to identify the key knowledge and skills needed for each topic and great consideration has been given to ensure that children can progress across topics and year groups. The children will answer a 'big question' which will showcase all their learning from that topic. During their time at St. John’s, children will learn to locate the world’s continents, countries, cities, seas and oceans and develop the skills to interpret a range of sources of geographical information including maps, diagrams, globes and aerial photographs and they are helped to understand how the human and physical features of a place shapes the location and changes over time. Throughout the years, the children are given the opportunity to explore the local areas through walks and visits to places close to school.
Impact
By the end of their time with us at St. John’s, the learners will be equipped with the geographical and critical thinking skills and knowledge that will enable them to be ready for the secondary curriculum and for life as an adult in the wider world. Children will be able to explore, navigate and understand the world around them and their place in it. As their learning is assessed against the age-related expectations of the National Curriculum for Geography via teacher assessment, the children’s knowledge and skills will have developed progressively as they move through school.