At Glascote Academy, our intent is that our geography curriculum should inspire children to be fascinated about the world around them and be curious to want to discover more. Our curriculum promotes respect for the environment and other cultures, as well as helping our children to understand their roles and responsibilities within it.

Through our geography curriculum, we aim to provide children with opportunities to develop their geographical skills through practical and engaging lessons Our planned lessons ensure progressive coverage of substantive knowledge and disciplinary skills required by the national curriculum and promote our children`s ever-growing curiosity about the wider world.

Our broad and balanced curriculum will equip children with the geographical skills needed to develop their knowledge through studying a diverse range of places, people, features and processes. Within our teaching, we aim to evoke thought, and questions and to encourage children to discover answers to their own questions through exploration and research, thus enabling them to gain a greater understanding and knowledge about their world.

We intend that our children will:

Demonstrate a secure knowledge and understanding of the locations, places, features, and processes studied.

Be knowledgeable about the world around them through the use of maps, atlases, globes, and computing/digital mapping.

Conduct geographical enquiries, analyse evidence sources, form their own opinions, present their findings, and draw their own conclusions 

Know that topographical features and land-use patterns have changed over time and understand why changes have occurred

Recognise similarities and differences between locations, places, people, and environments 

Respect other cultures and the environment, understanding the need to care for it and understanding their role and responsibilities within it.

At Glascote Academy, geography is planned in line with the national curriculum and is taught following a whole school overview. In the Early Years Foundation Stage, it is taught as part of one area of learning` Understanding of the World` and links to the early learning goals (ELGs). In kS1 and KS2, geography is taught in half termly blocks and the topics have been selected

 to provide the children with a breadth and depth of knowledge and understanding about a wide range of places, countries and people, geographical features and human and physical processes.

The local area is fully utilised to ensure that children learn through varied and firsthand experiences of the world around them and have opportunities to develop and refine their skills as geographers. Residential visits are also planned for year 6 pupils and provide additional first-hand opportunities for pupils to further develop their fieldwork and map skills, with a focus on their navigational and compass skills.

The teaching, learning and sequencing of the geography curriculum are as follows:

In EYFS and Key Stage 1, children will focus on observing and studying their immediate and local area, before building knowledge of the United Kingdom through their learning about the weather, geographical features, environments and other countries.

In Key Stage 2, the geography curriculum builds upon and extends children’s knowledge of the United Kingdom, moving on to building knowledge of Europe and the wider world.  Using a range of skills and resources, children will study, record, compare and make connections about countries, places,  people, and human and physical geography.

 The sequential progression of substantive knowledge and disciplinary skills are set out in order to build and develop the following:

Teachers create a positive attitude towards geography learning inside and outside the classrooms and promote the expectation that all children can achieve high standards. Our SEND children are supported by scaffolding up when and where appropriate. Recall, repetition, modelling and practise are key facilitators used to support all children in their learning. Key vocabulary is an integral part of each topic, enabling children to have a greater understanding of the topic and important concepts, as well as allowing them to communicate geographical information.

Our approach to the geography curriculum results in a fun, engaging, and high-quality education that provides children with the foundations and knowledge for understanding the world that they live in and their responsibilities within it.

Our children will display enjoyment in geography and be able to talk confidently and

 knowledgeably about the world in which they live and how it has been shaped, using key geographical vocabulary and information. They will develop an understanding and appreciation of geography in their local area and its place within the wider geographical context.