Geography 

Intent 

Every child at St Mark’s CE Primary School is a Geographer. Our intent is to inspire our children to be curious learners who are fascinated by the world around them and driven to make sense of their place in it. Through our integrated curriculum and projects, our children study the world! From North Camp to New Zealand, Iceland to Borneo and many other places in between. 

Geography is, by nature, an investigative subject, which develops an understanding of concepts, knowledge and skills. We will equip our children with knowledge about different places, resources and natural or human environments. This knowledge will underpin the geographical skills the children will need to develop to become Geographers themselves. 

As our children progress through school, 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 and skills are progressive and are sequenced to provide the framework and approaches that provide explanation of how the Earth’s features at different scales are shaped, interconnected and change over time.  

We take pride in our integrated, inclusive approach, which enables all our children to access rich and engaging learning opportunities. The children at St Mark’s are offered a wide range of meaningful experiences within school and on carefully chosen visits, which open a wider world and its mysteries, envelop the senses and celebrate the wonder of life. This enables them to have key knowledge and skills embedded into their minds, which will support them through their growth in the future. 

Our children will leave St Mark’s with awe and understanding of how complex the world around them is and a desire to explore it further. 

Implementation 

Through our integrated curriculum, Geography is effectively taught across all year groups, enabling our children to develop as inquisitive geographers. Geography is planned into projects as either a lead subject or supporting subject. Our projects and locations are carefully chosen to provide extensive learning opportunities and build on the children’s prior learning. Cross curricular outcomes in Geography are specifically planned for, with strong links between Geography and Literacy lessons identified, planned for and utilised. 

The local area is fully taken advantage of, and engaging projects are planned to help achieve the desired outcomes, with experiences for learning on visits embedded into practice. This allows our children to truly retain what they have learnt, which heightens their curiosity of the world around them. All the children are then able to discuss their own independent thoughts and ideas. 

Our children are given various opportunities to observe and interpret a range of sources such as maps (both online and physical), aerial photographs and their own firsthand experiences from field work. Children are taught the differences between their area and other places both in the UK and abroad, allowing them to develop their knowledge of the world at different scales: locally, nationally and internationally. 

Pupils learn the difference between human and physical features, strengthening their understanding and vocabulary by linking it to our own school grounds. All the children at St Mark’s are extremely conscious and respectful towards the reality of how other people and places might be different to what they know and are familiar with. This allows them to make connections, whilst considering their rights and responsibilities in the world both towards other people and the environment in which they live. 

Additionally in each class, children participate in cross curricular longitudinal studies across the school year. This gives children an excellent opportunity to deepen their knowledge of seasonal variations in weather, as well as develop their fieldwork skills when collecting, analysing and evaluating data. As part of their daily routines, the children observe the weather regularly to look at how it changes our landscape. They also discuss and respond to geographical news in this country and all around the world. 

To enable our children to be authentic learners, we ensure our projects and outcomes have meaning to the children and are relevant to the constant changing world around us.