St Joseph’s subject overviews - Geography

Vision

Our Geography curriculum aims to tap into children’s natural curiosity about the world in which they live. We want children to have a sense of self and an awareness of their surroundings locally and globally. Each of our topics touches upon current and future environmental issues. We want our children to feel a sense of responsibility, driving them to make positive changes for their future lives. We seek to inspire in children a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people which will remain with them for the rest of their lives; to promote the children’s interest and understanding of diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes. The curriculum is designed to develop knowledge and skills that are progressive as well as transferable throughout their time at St. Joseph’s and beyond.

  

Intent

At St.Joseph’s Academy, we aspire to help children develop as explorers, building progressively each year on the following Geography skills:

  

 

Implementation

At St Joseph’s we dedicate a whole term to a Geography themed topic. We recognise that children need longer to fully submerge themselves into their learning and take part in exciting and memorable experiences to really embed the knowledge and key skills taught in that year.  KS1 focus on a Geography themed topic during the Autumn term and KS2 focus on their Geography themed topic during the Spring term. Each teacher has individually designed their topic to link closely to their English Mastery text and includes many other cross curricular links such as to Science, Art, DT and Music. Teachers have identified key knowledge and skills for their year group and have planned exciting experiences, often encompassing current global environmental issues, both local and global which enhances engagement and therefore learning experiences. Children are driven by their learning and play a key role in the development of their topic and the outcomes achieved.

 

Overview of Geography knowledge grid covered by each year group

Reception (Early Years)	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3	Year 4	Year 5	Year 6
Understanding the world	Keepers of the Land	Our Ocean, Our World	Enormous Explorers Orienteering	I’m a Year 4 Get me out of here	Passion for Fashion	Angry Earth
	Sheffield Zimbabwe (African country of choice most fitting to year group).	Eyam Sheffield	Sheffield Steel Egypt	Rainforests	Indus Valley	Benin

(See our year group pages for more detail)

   

 

Impact

Outcomes in our topic and English books evidence a broad and balanced curriculum. Work is presented in a variety of ways to demonstrate the key skills and key knowledge which has been taught and experienced. As children progress throughout the school, they develop a deep knowledge, understanding an appreciation of their local area and its place within the wider geographical context. Geographical understanding, as well as children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is further enhanced by our RE and PSHE curriculum. Children are able to learn about Geography based careers from members of the local or wider community. Collaboration with other organisations such as Sheffield Hallam University mean that we are able to create high quality exciting outcomes at the end of each year groups topic leaving a memorable mark on the school such as by a piece of art or a celebration day. These memorable experiences embed key skills and knowledge more deeply preparing the children for their next steps in their education.