St Michael’s - Geography Statement

Intent:

At St. Michael’s, we aim to provide a high-quality geography education to inspire in pupils, a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. Geography teaching at St. Michael’s equips pupils with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes. As pupils progress, their growing knowledge about the world helps them to deepen their understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes, and of the formation and use of landscapes and environments. Geographical knowledge, understanding and skills provide the frameworks and approaches that explain how the Earth’s features at different scales are shaped, interconnected and change over time.

The subject provision is designed to;

• Develop a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people.
• Develop a broad, balanced and inclusive curriculum that is both progressive and sequential.
• Develop knowledge and understanding of geographical concepts, vocabulary and skills.

In Geography there are four main areas of coverage:

• Locational knowledge
• Place knowledge
• Human and physical geography
• Fieldwork
• Develop competence to excel in a broad range of physical activities.

Implementation

Geography at St. Michael’s enables children to investigate a range of places – both in Britain and abroad – to help develop their knowledge and understanding of the Earth’s physical and human processes. The four main areas of geography mentioned above have been mapped out to ensure progression and coverage from the Early Years to Key Stage Two. Staff ensure that teaching enables children to meet Geography subject specific skills in each year group which are then assessed half-termly in line with the assessment all foundation subjects at St. Michael’s.

We begin in the Autumn term by providing children with opportunities to investigate and make enquiries about their local area, starting with geography related to our school in Autumn 1 and then moving to our town of Widnes and our Borough of Halton so that the children can develop of real sense of who they are, their heritage and what makes our local area unique and special, in Autumn 2.

In the Spring term, our Geography Curriculum moves to studying the North West and regions in the United Kingdom in order to develop locational, place and human and physical geographical knowledge of our country. In Summer, Geography knowledge and understanding is taught through looking from an international perspective, for children to be able to link local, national and international Geography and create a sense of place.

Impact

Pupils at St. Michael’s will be equipped with geographical skills and knowledge to help them explore, navigate and understand the world around them and their place in it. Children’s knowledge and skills will develop progressively as they move through the school, to enable them to meet the National Curriculum requirements and for them to be ready for the curriculum at Key Stage 3 and for life as an adult in the wider world. We want the children to have thoroughly enjoyed learning about geography, therefore encouraging them to undertake new life experiences now and in the future.

For any additional curriculum information please use the following link for the Primary National Curriculum for Geography:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/239044/PRIMARY_national_curriculum_-_Geography.pdf