Welcome to Our Geography Curriculum page. My name is Mrs Beesley-Monteath and I am the Geography Co-ordinator for St Kentigern's Catholic Primary School.
My vision of our tailored geography curriculum is designed to provide students with a solid foundation in key geographical concepts and skills. It aims to develop children's understanding of the world around them and their place within it, as well as foster their curiosity and appreciation for diverse cultures, environments, and societies.
Our curriculum covers a wide range of topics, from local and global geography to physical processes and human interactions. Students are encouraged to investigate and explore different landscapes, weather patterns, habitats, and natural resources, as well as understand how human activities impact the environment and ecosystems.
Through a combination of hands-on activities, field trips, and classroom learning, students develop skills in map reading, spatial awareness, data analysis, and critical thinking. The children will also learn about the significance of sustainability, conservation, and environmental protection, and are encouraged to think critically about the world's social, economic, and political issues.
Overall, our primary school geography curriculum aims to empower students with the knowledge and skills needed to become responsible global citizens who are aware of the world's diversity and interconnectedness. By fostering a love for exploration, discovery, and inquiry, it will help our students develop a lifelong passion for geography and a deeper understanding of the world around them.
Intent: Why do we teach what we teach?
The intention of the Geography Gospel Led curriculum at St Kentigern’s Catholic Primary school is to inspire in the children a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people. The Geography curriculum allows us to celebrate the unique nature of Our school, which draws children from our local area with a diverse range of languages, cultures and heritage from countries across the globe.
We value geography as a key opportunity for our children to share their own heritage, experiences and knowledge and build cohesion so that their diverse backgrounds, which could cause a barrier to learning, can in fact be a positive asset to their own learning and that of others.
Our geography curriculum will equip pupils with knowledge of diverse places, environments and people. We will develop in our children a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes as set out in the National Curriculum.
Implementation: How do we teach what we teach?
At St Kentigern’s we use our own Gospel led curriculum and we use ‘Rising stars’ Geography as a suggested tool for delivering Geography and ensuring coverage. Teachers adapt and create lessons enabling children to think as geographers. A variety of teaching approaches are used based on the teacher’s judgement. We offer our students fieldwork opportunities outside of school. This includes, trips to our local beach, our local zoo, local rivers and residential trips for upper KS2.
Geography provides excellent opportunities to enhance the learning of more able pupils through the investigations, analysing sources and writing extending pieces.
We use ‘Rising stars’ recommendation of progression of skills with each year group, which enables pupils to build on and develop their knowledge and skills each year. In order to support children in their ability to know more and remember more, there are regular opportunities to review the learning that has taken place in previous topics as well as previous lessons. We have a tailored curriculum which provides previous and built upon learning. We use Practise/Going Deeper opportunities to ensure understanding and skills are kept up to date and relevant for our geography objectives. Children understand the subject of Geography, and its definition which are shared at the beginning of every Geography lesson across the school. Children have opportunities to develop their geographical skills at home through half-termly topic homework which are set in each class. Effective CPD and standardisation opportunities are available to staff to ensure high levels of confidence and knowledge are maintained. Effective use of educational visits and visitors are planned, to enrich and enhance the pupil’s learning experiences within the Geography curriculum. Topic and theme days are built in at least termly to ensure that relevant links are made to world events and current foci impacting on the children’s lives. Teachers use highly effective Assessment for Learning at different points in each lesson to ensure misconceptions are highlighted and addressed. Effective modelling by teachers ensures that children are able to achieve their learning intention, with misconceptions addressed within it. Children are assessed against the taught objectives and unit end points termly and are assessed as working above, at or below the expected age related standards. This data is then collated and assessed by the geography co-ordinator.
Impact: How do we know what the students have learnt and how well they have learnt it?
The impact of Our Curriculum leads to the children of St Kentigern’s making progress over time across key stages relative to a child’s individual starting point and their progression of skills. Our Geography curriculum will lead pupils to be enthusiastic Geography learners, evidenced in a range of ways, including pupil voice and their work which is evidenced in their topic work books. Learning outside the classroom is very powerful for our students and we aim to create more experiences in our teaching as the impact is high due to the hands-on experiences and creating memories. Through discussion, we want the children to have no limits to their ambitions and have opportunities to grow up to be cartographers, ecologists, town planners, conservationists or weather forecasters.
I hope you enjoy the flip book which has been created to demonstrate the great work that the children of St Kentigern's have displayed across the years.