Geography Rationale

Intent

At St. Cuthbert’s Catholic Primary School, our Geography curriculum aims to nurture a fascination about the world, its people and the processes that shape it. Rooted in our Catholic values, pupils are encouraged to appreciate the richness and diversity of God’s creation, to recognise their responsibilities as global citizens and to care for the environment. The curriculum develops secure knowledge of places, environments and human and physical processes, alongside the geographical skills needed to investigate them. Learning is deliberately sequenced from pupils’ immediate surroundings in Liverpool to the United Kingdom and the wider world, enabling children to make meaningful connections, revisit important ideas and build increasingly complex understanding. Ambitious expectations are maintained for every pupil, with carefully chosen content, vocabulary and experiences ensuring that all children can participate successfully and see themselves as geographers.

Implementation

Geography is taught through a coherent and progressive programme in which substantive knowledge, geographical vocabulary and disciplinary skills are identified clearly and developed over time. Beginning with observation of the local environment, weather, simple maps and journeys, pupils progress towards using atlases, digital mapping, compass directions, grid references, data and fieldwork to investigate increasingly varied places and geographical questions. Teaching draws upon pupils’ prior learning and uses clear explanations, modelling, purposeful questioning, retrieval, oracy opportunities and regular opportunities to apply knowledge so that new learning becomes secure. Local studies, including Liverpool, the River Alt and changing land use, give pupils an authentic sense of place, while contrasting studies of countries, cities, climates, biomes and environments broaden their understanding of the interconnected world. Lessons are adapted thoughtfully without reducing ambition, using visual resources, practical experiences, structured language support and carefully planned scaffolding to ensure that every pupil can access essential content and achieve well.

Impact

We believe our children will:

• develop a secure and connected body of geographical knowledge and a rich subject vocabulary.
• use maps, fieldwork, data and geographical evidence with increasing confidence and independence.
• locate and describe significant places and geographical features accurately.
• explain how human and physical processes influence places and environments.
• compare locations and consider how and why places change and are connected.
• ask thoughtful geographical questions and draw reasoned conclusions from evidence.
• communicate their ideas clearly through discussion, writing, maps, diagrams and presentations.
• demonstrate sustained progress from their individual starting points through their work, responses and application of learning.
• respond positively to feedback and support, enabling misconceptions to be addressed and learning to become secure.
• leave primary school as curious, informed and reflective young people who value diversity, understand their place within the wider world and recognise their responsibility to contribute positively to its future.