OUR GEOGRAPHY CURRICULUM

Intent

At St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, we aim to ignite a passion for geography by fostering curiosity about the world and its people. Our curriculum ensures that all children:

• Develop locational knowledge, place knowledge, and a deep understanding of human and physical geography.
• Acquire and apply geographical skills through map reading, fieldwork, and digital technologies.
• Understand the relationship between humans and the environment, promoting sustainability and global responsibility.

We believe geography should be both knowledge-rich and skills-based, ensuring children progressively build their understanding of different places, landscapes, and cultures. Our curriculum encourages children to be critical thinkers, asking geographical questions and developing a strong awareness of their role as global citizens. We emphasise real-world connections, ensuring that geography is meaningful and relevant to their lives.

Implementation

Following the Plan Bee Geography scheme, teachers create a positive attitude towards geography within their classrooms, ensuring high expectations for all pupils.  We are following ‘option 1’ of the rolling program, but Burrator class will be commencing ‘option 2’ as of Autumn 2025 due to split year 5 year groups.

Our approach includes:

• Structured Progression: Geography is taught in planned, sequenced blocks, ensuring skill and knowledge development across a two-year rolling programme.
• Enquiry-Based Learning: Pupils are encouraged to ask questions, investigate places, and explore geographical themes using high-quality resources.
• Fieldwork & Experiential Learning: Pupils engage in first-hand experiences, including map reading, data collection, and local studies to bring learning to life.
• Vocabulary Development: Key geographical terminology is embedded throughout, ensuring children develop confidence in using subject-specific language.
• Assessment & Feedback: Observational tasks and regular assessments track progress, identifying gaps in learning to ensure all pupils succeed.
• Geographical Thinking: As pupils advance, they compare, analyse, and evaluate geographical data, becoming increasingly proficient in using maps, atlases, and digital tools.
• High-Quality Teaching: Teachers receive ongoing CPD to ensure best practices in geography education.
• Inclusion & Adaptation: Our curriculum is designed to be inclusive, supporting the needs of all learners, including SEND and EAL pupils.

Impact

Our geography curriculum ensures that pupils:

• Develop a secure understanding of the world’s physical and human geography.
• Confidently use maps, atlases, globes, and digital tools.
• Engage with real-world geographical issues, including sustainability and climate change (Catholic Social Teaching Links)
• Become critical thinkers, able to question and analyse geographical data.
• Appreciate the diversity of cultures, landscapes, and environments.

By the time pupils leave St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, they will have the geographical knowledge and skills necessary to navigate and understand the world around them, preparing them for future learning and responsible citizenship.

Geography in the Early Years

In the Early Years Foundation Stage, geography is explored through the "Understanding the World" area of learning, as set out in the statutory EYFS framework. Children develop an awareness of their environment, people, places, and the natural world through hands-on experiences, stories, and role play. They begin to understand simple geographical concepts such as place, direction, and differences between environments and cultures. This lays the foundation for later geographical knowledge and supports the development of observation, comparison, and critical thinking skills in line with the expectations of the national curriculum.