Geography

At St Joseph’s, we aim for a high quality geography curriculum which should inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people. As stated by the Geographical Association “Geographical thinking is not everyday thinking because geography, the world subject, tries to keep things whole, geographical thinking includes relating the near and far, the physical and the human, people and environments, the economic and the social… and so on”. The intent of the geographical curriculum is to ensure that pupils think like geographers and question what they see and hear locally, nationally and internationally. With the school set in rural Northumberland, the geography curriculum sets out to build on pupils’ experiences around where they live and use this experience and knowledge to compare with places and topic that are studied further afield.

We want children to enjoy and love learning about geography by gaining knowledge and skills, not just through experiences in the classroom, but also with the use of fieldwork and educational visits.

In ensuring high standards of teaching and learning in geography, we implement a curriculum that is progressive throughout the whole school. Geography is taught with staff focusing on geographical knowledge and skills as stated in the National Curriculum. Staff will have clear expectations around what pupils will know and be able to do with their geographical knowledge and skills at curriculum ‘end points’ such as the end of a key stage or end of an academic year. The geography curriculum progressively builds upon previous knowledge as pupils move through the school in order to inspire pupils’ curiosity, and consolidate and extend pupils’ knowledge of physical and human geography but also enable our students to be confident and ask questions about the world around them.

The geography curriculum at St Joseph’s will equip students with the skills and understanding ready for them to study geography at Key Stage 4.  The curriculum has been planned, alongside Partnership Schools, to provide a consistent approach and coverage across all schools in order to assist with the transition of pupils to High School. By the end of KS3 students should have the Geographical knowledge, understanding and skills to provide the framework and approaches that explain how the earth’s features at different scales are interconnected and changed over time.