Geography

Intent, Implementation and Impact Statement for Geography

Intent

At St Mary’s CofE Primary, we believe that Geography should teach a respect and understanding of what it means to be a positive citizen in a multi-cultural country. We are dedicated to developing children’s knowledge and understanding of places in the world, whilst increasing their understanding of other cultures. We encourage all members of the St Mary’s community to show a commitment to sustainable development and an appreciation of what ‘global citizenship’ means. Our curriculum allows children to learn geographical skills through investigation, enquiry and problem solving.

Our Geography curriculum reflects our five school values

Implementation

Geography is taught discretely from years 1-6 and is blocked throughout the year so children can achieve depth in their learning. Links are made with other subjects in the curriculum when they arise.

Teachers have identified the key knowledge and geographical skills to be taught in each topic, in line with the National Curriculum, and consideration has been given to ensure progression across topics and throughout each year group.

Key vocabulary is identified through knowledge organisers, highlighted to children during lessons and revisited through quizzes.

Geography lessons begin with recall activities to activate and embed prior learning.

A variety of different application activities, which cater for a range of learning styles, are used to develop geographical skills including map work, problem solving, computing and investigating.  

Learning in geography is enhanced through a variety of local trips such as the river Deben and Woodbridge, and through visitors where possible.

Impact

The impact of our geography curriculum can be seen by talking to the children about their interest in this subject and seeing evidence in their books, on learning walls in classrooms and on displays around the school.

Teacher’s use formative assessment methods to identify children’s understanding such as KWI grids, quizzes, PNI grids and discussion. Planned, individual writing opportunities provide an opportunity for the children to communicate what they have learnt at the end of the topic.

Children’s attainment is updated on Target Tracker throughout the year and attainment steps are updated termly. This allows the class teacher and subject lead to monitor the progress of all children across the school.

Geography is monitored by the subject leader each term and the outcomes inform action planning and the SDP.