Geography
St Edward’s Values: Thankfulness, Forgiveness, Compassion, Perseverance, Courage, Friendship
‘I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.’ (John 10:10)
Geography Curriculum at St Edward’s
Intent
‘In every outthrust headland, in every curving beach, in every grain of sand there is the story of the earth.’ Rachel Carson.
Geography is a subject through which we aim to inspire pupils with a curiosity and fascination about the world.
At St Edward’s we believe that Geography allows children to begin to understand their place in our world, considering what is familiar to them, but also how their ‘world’ is different to that of others.
Geography allows children to develop their understanding of their immediate environment (home, school, town) and how they are part of a bigger environment (country, continent, world). This then builds their knowledge of the wider world and how people and places differ both in terms of physical characteristics and human characteristics.
We believe that the locational knowledge acquired during geography lessons crucially provides children with a context in which new learning across the curriculum can be embedded.
Coverage
We deliver the 4 strands of the National Curriculum (locational knowledge, human and physical geography, place knowledge and geographical skills and fieldwork) via our Cornerstones topics.
In order to ensure that there is a progression of skills and vocabulary across the school, we have a progression document which details expectations within each year group.
For each Cornerstones topic, teachers have considered the curriculum roadmaps from the foundation subjects and have drawn up plans based around a small number of interrelated ‘big questions’ with consideration for the small steps required for children to gain a deep understanding of each concept.
Because we believe that Geography should be led by enquiry, in each topic, children explore questions, building their investigative skills.
For further details about coverage, see the Geography Overview.