Geography

Intent

At St. James, we use Kapow Primary's Geography as the basis for our teaching, aiming to encourage children to explore and understand the world around them. 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. All of this contributes to our children becoming better world citizens. Our curriculum and lessons allow for:

• 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.

Implementation

At St. James, through the Kapow Primary Geography scheme, all of our topics have an inquiry question at the basis of the children's learning. These questions are open-ended, giving the children a purpose. 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 practiced as often as possible. Kapow Primary units follow an inquiry cycle that maps out the fieldwork process of question, observe, measure, record, and present, reflecting the elements mentioned in the National curriculum. Each unit is taught with the core belief of developing children's understanding of these nine core concepts:

• Place
• Space
• Scale
• Interdependence
• Physical and human processes
• Environmental impact
• Sustainable development
• Cultural awareness
• Cultural diversity

When exploring certain themes, our curriculum has established cross-curricular links between Geography and other subjects such as English and Science. We also allow for further embedding of knowledge through organised trips and workshops.

Impact

The expected impact of following the Kapow Primary Geography scheme of work 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 inquiries using planned and specifically chosen methodologies, collected data, and digital technologies.
• Meet the 'Understanding the World' Early Learning Goals at the end of EYFS, and the end-of-key stage expectations outlined in the National curriculum for Geography by the end of Year 2 and Year 6.