Geography
Christian Value: Friendship
Intent
At Kirby Hill Church of England Primary School, our Geography curriculum is guided
by our Christian vision that “All things are possible for one who believes”, and is
deeply rooted in our ACHIEVE curriculum drivers:
• Aspire
• Challenge
• Honour every individual
• Inspire curiosity and creativity
• Embed strong values
• Value community and global connections
• Empower through knowledge
Using the Kapow Primary scheme as a basis, we aim to inspire pupils to become
curious and explorative thinkers with a diverse knowledge of the world; in other
words, to think like a geographer. We want pupils to develop the confidence to
question and observe places, measure and record necessary data in various ways, and
analyse and present their findings. We aim to build an awareness of how Geography
shapes our lives at multiple scales and over time. We hope to encourage pupils to
become resourceful, active citizens who will have the skills to contribute to and
improve the world around them.
Our curriculum encourages:
• A strong focus on developing both geographical skills and knowledge.
• Critical thinking, with the ability to ask perceptive questions and explain and analyse
evidence.
• The development of fieldwork skills across each year group.
• A deep interest and knowledge of pupils’ locality and how it differs from other
areas of the world.
• A growing understanding of geographical concepts, terms and vocabulary.
Our Christian Value for this subject is Friendship as we aim for our children develop
love and respect to become responsible, active citizens in our world.Through links to our local environment and heritage, we value our community and
wider world, giving children real purpose for their learning. For example, looking at
solar farms locally or the proposed service station. We want pupils to develop an
understanding and empathy of diverse places, their peoples and cultures and have up
to date knowledge about the current issues and news from around the world.
Geography at Kirby Hill is not just about making things - it's about creating
enthusiastic and inquisitive geographers who can apply their knowledge and skills to
explain how the Earth’s features at different scales are shaped, interconnected and
change over time.
Implementation
Geography is organised into 4 strands:
• Locational knowledge
• Place knowledge
• Human and physical geography
• Geographical skills and fieldwork
Our curriculum has a clear progression of skills and knowledge within these
four strands across each year group. Geographical key concepts are woven across all
units rather than being taught discretely.
At Kirby Hill we follow a spiral curriculum model, with essential knowledge and skills
revisited with increasing complexity, allowing pupils to revise and build on their
previous learning. Locational knowledge, in particular, will be reviewed in each unit to
coincide with our belief that this will consolidate children’s understanding of key
concepts, such as scale and place, in Geography.
The two EYFS units provide a solid foundation of geographical skills, knowledge and
enquiry for children to transition successfully onto Key stage 1 Geography learning,
whilst also working towards the Development matters statements and Early Learning
Goals. These units consist of a mixture of adult-led and child-initiated activities
which can be selected by the teacher to fit in with Reception
class topics.
Cross-curricular links are included throughout each unit, allowing children to make
connections and apply their Geography skills to other areas of learning. Our enquiry
questions form the basis for our Key stage 1 and 2 units, meaning that pupils gain a
solid understanding of geographical knowledge and skills by applying them to answer
enquiry questions. We have designed these questions to beopen-ended with no preconceived answers and therefore they are genuinely
purposeful and engage pupils in generating a real change. In attempting to answer
them, children learn how to collect, interpret and represent data using geographical
methodologies and make informed decisions by applying their geographical knowledge.
Each unit contains elements of geographical skills and fieldwork to ensure that
fieldwork skills are practised as often as possible. Our Geography curriculum follows
an enquiry cycle that maps out the fieldwork process of question, observe, measure,
record, and present, to reflect the elements mentioned in the National curriculum.
This ensures children will learn how to decide on an area of enquiry, plan to measure
data using a range of methods, capture the data and present it to a range of
appropriate stakeholders in various formats. Fieldwork includes smaller opportunities
on the school grounds to larger-scale visits to investigate physical and human
features. Developing fieldwork skills within the school environment and
revisiting them in multiple units enables pupils to consolidate their understanding of
various methods. It also gives children the confidence to evaluate methodologies
without always having to leave the school grounds and do so within the confines of a
familiar place. This makes fieldwork regular and accessible while giving children a
thorough understanding of their locality, providing a solid foundation when comparing
it with other places.
Lessons incorporate various teaching strategies from independent tasks to paired
and group work, including practical hands-on, computer-based and collaborative tasks.
This variety means that lessons are engaging and appeal to those with a variety of
learning styles.
Strong subject knowledge is vital for staff to deliver a highly effective and robust
Geography curriculum.
We alternate our Geography teaching every half-term with History.
Impact
An enquiry-based approach to learning will allow teachers to assess children against the
National curriculum expectations for Geography. The impact of our curriculum can be
constantly monitored through both formative and summative assessment opportunities.Each lesson includes guidance to support teachers in assessing pupils against the
learning objectives. Furthermore, each unit has a unit quiz, which can be used at end of
the unit to assess children’s understanding. Opportunities for children to present their
findings using their geographical skills will also form part of the assessment process in
each unit.
After implementing Kapow Primary Geography, pupils should leave school equipped with
a range of skills and knowledge to enable them to study Geography with confidence at
Key stage 3.
The expected impact of our Geography Curriculum is that children will:
● Compare and contrast human and physical features to describe and understand
similarities and differences between various places in the UK, Europe and the
Americas.
● Name, locate and understand where and why the physical elements of our world are
located and how they interact, including processes over time relating to climate,
biomes, natural disasters and the water cycle.
● Understand how humans use the land for economic and trading purposes, including
how the distribution of natural resources has shaped this.
● Develop an appreciation for how humans are impacted by and have evolved around the
physical geography surrounding them and how humans have had an impact on the
environment, both positive and negative.
● Develop a sense of location and place around the UK and some areas of the wider
world using the eight-points of a compass, four and six-figure grid references, symbols
and keys on maps, globes, atlases, aerial photographs and digital mapping.
● Identify and understand how various elements of our globe create positioning,
including latitude, longitude, the hemispheres, the tropics and how time zones work,
including night and day.
● Present and answer their own geographical enquiries using planned and specifically
chosen methodologies, collected data and digital technologies.
We hope to shape children into curious and inspired geographers with respect and
appreciation for the world around them alongside an understanding of the
interconnection between the human and the physical.