Geography Curriculum Statement

At Lyppard Grange Primary School, we are proud to deliver an ambitious geography curriculum built upon the framework of the National Curriculum. Thoughtfully designed it aims to empower children and prepare them for an ever-evolving world.

Our primary aim is to equip children with the core geographical knowledge and essential skills they need to be Secure, Engaged, and Equipped for life (SEE). By fostering these foundations, we ensure every child has the confidence and capability to thrive in a rapidly changing future.

We take a thematic approach to learning, weaving geography expertly into engaging themes. This enables children to see connections across disciplines, enriching their understanding and mastery of key concepts. Each lesson is carefully crafted to nurture our school’s core learning values: curiosity, adaptability, perseverance, courage, teamwork, communication, and independence.

Our geography curriculum not only builds academic excellence but also promotes the development of well-rounded individuals who are prepared for the challenges and opportunities ahead in an ever-changing world. Through our geography curriculum, we are empowering children to be SECURE, seeking to ensure that they are: self-aware - knowing their own strengths and weaknesses by teaching them their place in the wider world and how they can use their strengths to have a positive impact on the world around them; able to recognise right and wrong with a sound moral compass by helping them see their responsibility for looking after the planet. We are empowering children to be ENGAGED, seeking to ensure that they have a sense of responsibility towards the environment and contribute to a more sustainable future as they learn about changing environments and climate change; show awareness to their community – locally, nationally and globally as they learn and make comparisons between places local to them and further afield; are a participant in those communities as they begin to understand topics such as fair trade, climate change, population change and what impact they can have on those communities; have an awareness of and empathy for others as they widen their understanding of people and places around the world; develop strong social skills as they carry out fieldwork and develop teamwork skills with their peers. We are empowering children to be EQUIPPED for life, seeking to ensure they are: numerate and literate as geography requires both skills for children to interpret and represent data, and communicate their ideas; ready for the changing technological world as they learn how to use GIS, online OS maps and Google Earth; prepared to broaden their horizons as they look beyond their local area and are inspired to explore different places; effective communicators as they learn to explain their understanding of geographical concepts; polite, respectful and courteous as they undertake fieldwork in the local community.

VISION - Being a Geographer at Lyppard Grange Primary School

At Lyppard Grange Primary School, we believe that Geography gives pupils an understanding of the world around them, its environments, and the processes that create and affect them. Children are geographers at Lyppard Grange; they are excited to find out more about our world in the classroom and experience practical fieldwork in our forest school as well as the local area. With climate change, human and physical impacts on the environment, and fair trade part of our curriculum, our children ask big questions about they world they live in and learn to communicate their understanding of these issues. They study diverse places across the globe and compare these places with their own environment, developing a sense of curiosity of places beyond their local area. Our vision is that children will develop a sense of responsibility for sustaining and protecting the world around them. Children are inspired by exciting and relevant themes and can see a link with Geography in school and their own futures. At Lyppard Grange Primary School, teaching is creative and inspiring with golden threads running through themes that are aimed at capturing children’s enthusiasm and interest.  

INTENT 

At Lyppard Grange Primary School, our geography curriculum aims to inspire pupils to become curious and explorative thinkers with a diverse knowledge of the world. We want our pupils to think like a geographer. We want them to develop an interest in the world in which we live, the different environments that are found in it and the impact that humans can have on it. We want to foster their curiosity about the world around them that enables them to grow as geographers and as global citizens. We want them to gain local knowledge as well as wider place knowledge, making comparisons between them, and understand the processes, human and physical, that occur within those places. In addition, they will gain fieldwork skills that enable them to study those places, work within a team, develop their understanding, and equip them for their future. As geographers at Lyppard Grange Primary School, we want our pupils to have an awareness of their responsibility in creating a sustainable future for our planet.

By using the Kapow scheme to help us deliver inspiring and engaging lessons, we can encourage:

• 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.

Kapow Primary’s Geography scheme of work enables pupils to meet the end of key stage attainment targets in the National curriculum. For EYFS, the activities allow pupils to work towards the ‘Understanding the World’ Development Matters statements and Early Learning Goals, while also covering foundational knowledge that will support them in their further geography learning in Key stage 1. It is the intent of Lyppard Grange Primary School to ensure that pupils meet the aims of the national curriculum for geography and the early years foundation stage framework set out below.

Early Years Foundation Stage: Understanding the World

Understanding the world involves guiding children to make sense of their physical world and their community. The frequency and range of children’s personal experiences increases their knowledge and sense of the world around them – from visiting parks, libraries and museums to meeting important members of society such as police officers, nurses and firefighters. In addition, listening to a broad selection of stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems will foster their understanding of our culturally, socially, technologically and ecologically diverse world. As well as building important knowledge, this extends their familiarity with words that support understanding across domains. Enriching and widening children’s vocabulary will support later reading comprehension.

People, Culture and Communities

• Describe their immediate environment using knowledge from observation, discussion, stories, non-fiction texts and maps.
• Know some similarities and differences between different religious and cultural communities in this country, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class.
• Explain some similarities and differences between life in this country and life in other countries, drawing on knowledge from stories, non-fiction texts and – when appropriate – maps.

The Natural World

• Explore the natural world around them, making observations and drawing pictures of animals and plants.
• Know some similarities and differences between the natural world around them and contrasting environments, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class.
• Understand some important processes and changes in the natural world around them, including the seasons and changing states of matter.

Key stages 1 and 2

The national curriculum for geography aims to ensure that all pupils:

• develop contextual knowledge of the location of globally significant places – both terrestrial and marine – including their defining physical and human characteristics and how these provide a geographical context for understanding the actions of processes
• understand the processes that give rise to key physical and human geographical features of the world, how these are interdependent and how they bring about spatial variation and change over time
• are competent in the geographical skills needed to:

• collect, analyse and communicate with a range of data gathered through experiences of fieldwork that deepen their understanding of geographical processes
• interpret a range of sources of geographical information, including maps, diagrams, globes, aerial photographs and Geographical Information Systems (GIS)
• communicate geographical information in a variety of ways, including through maps, numerical and quantitative skills and writing at length.

Key stage 1

Pupils should develop knowledge about the world, the United Kingdom and their locality. They should understand basic subject-specific vocabulary relating to human and physical geography and begin to use geographical skills, including first-hand observation, to enhance their locational awareness.

Pupils should be taught to:

Locational knowledge

• name and locate the world’s seven continents and five oceans
• name, locate and identify characteristics of the four countries and capital cities of the United Kingdom and its surrounding seas

Place knowledge

• understand geographical similarities and differences through studying the human and physical geography of a small area of the United Kingdom, and of a small area in a contrasting non-European country

Human and physical geography

• identify seasonal and daily weather patterns in the United Kingdom and the location of hot and cold areas of the world in relation to the Equator and the North and South Poles
• use basic geographical vocabulary to refer to:

• key physical features, including: beach, cliff, coast, forest, hill, mountain, sea, ocean, river, soil, valley, vegetation, season and weather
• key human features, including: city, town, village, factory, farm, house, office, port, harbour and shop

Geographical skills and fieldwork

• use world maps, atlases and globes to identify the United Kingdom and its countries, as well as the countries, continents and oceans studied at this key stage
• use simple compass directions (North, South, East and West) and locational and directional language [for example, near and far; left and right], to describe the location of features and routes on a map
• use aerial photographs and plan perspectives to recognise landmarks and basic human and physical features; devise a simple map; and use and construct basic symbols in a key
• use simple fieldwork and observational skills to study the geography of their school and its grounds and the key human and physical features of its surrounding environment.

Key stage 2

Pupils should extend their knowledge and understanding beyond the local area to include the United Kingdom and Europe, North and South America. This will include the location and characteristics of a range of the world’s most significant human and physical features. They should develop their use of geographical knowledge, understanding and skills to enhance their locational and place knowledge.

Pupils should be taught to:

Locational knowledge

• locate the world’s countries, using maps to focus on Europe (including the location of Russia) and North and South America, concentrating on their environmental regions, key physical and human characteristics, countries, and major cities
• name and locate counties and cities of the United Kingdom, geographical regions and their identifying human and physical characteristics, key topographical features (including hills, mountains, coasts and rivers), and land-use patterns; and understand how some of these aspects have changed over time
• identify the position and significance of latitude, longitude, Equator, Northern Hemisphere, Southern Hemisphere, the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, Arctic and Antarctic Circle, the Prime/Greenwich Meridian and time zones (including day and night)

Place knowledge

• understand geographical similarities and differences through the study of human and physical geography of a region of the United Kingdom, a region in a European country, and a region within North or South America

Human and physical geography

• describe and understand key aspects of:

• physical geography, including: climate zones, biomes and vegetation belts, rivers, mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes, and the water cycle
• human geography, including: types of settlement and land use, economic activity including trade links, and the distribution of natural resources including energy, food, minerals and water

Geographical skills and fieldwork

• use maps, atlases, globes and digital/computer mapping to locate countries and describe features studied
• use the eight points of a compass, four and six-figure grid references, symbols and key (including the use of Ordnance Survey maps) to build their knowledge of the United Kingdom and the wider world
• use fieldwork to observe, measure, record and present the human and physical features in the local area using a range of methods, including sketch maps, plans and graphs, and digital technologies.

IMPLEMENTATION 

To ensure that pupils meet the objectives set out in the National Curriculum, we use the Kapow Primary Geography scheme of work, carefully woven into the themes in each year group.  The National curriculum organises the geography attainment targets under four strands:

• Locational knowledge
• Place knowledge
• Human and physical geography
• Geographical skills and fieldwork

At Lyppard Grange Primary School, we ensure those strands are taught within each year group, supported by the clear progression of skills and knowledge that Kapow Primary provides. Teachers have access to the up-to-date resources and tools available from Kapow to support their own understanding of the subject and to support the lesson delivery, ensuring pupils are accessing rich and engaging lessons.

Geography at Lyppard Grange Primary School is taught within different themes in each year group. With exciting grabs to introduce new themes such as messages about missing dinosaur eggs from Argentina, to being sent on a quest around the world, children are drawn into a location or topic in an engaging, challenging and thought-provoking way. Children study a range of places, habitats and environments around the globe, from Worcester in the UK to Sydney in Australia, and from our local Forest School habitat to the Amazon rainforest. The cross-curricular and thematic approach at Lyppard Grange enables geography topics to be linked with other subjects such as history, for example the link between the Egyptians and features of the River Nile. Children are inspired by current and relevant geographical topics such as daily and seasonal weather patterns, climate change, and deforestation. Within lessons, children will be taught key vocabulary, build on previous knowledge, and be given opportunities for both independent and group work. Where geographical skills do not fall within the theme, these skills are taught through discrete lessons.

In EYFS, Geography is taught as part of ‘Understanding the World’ area of learning with a combination of adult-led activities and continuous provision. Elements of Kapow Primary, such as exploring maps and comparing the city and countryside, are incorporated into the 'Understanding the World' learning in addition to other activities which fit in with the class themes. We ensure that our reception children gain a solid foundation of geographical skills and knowledge for children to transition successfully onto Key stage 1 Geography learning, whilst also working towards the Development matters statements and Early Learning Goals.

From our Early Years children to Year 6, geography skills are being taught including using and creating maps, comparing different regions in the world and how humans impact the environment. We ensure that essential knowledge and skills are revisited with increasing complexity due to the spiral nature of the Kapow Primary scheme, allowing pupils to revise and build on the previous learning. At the beginning of each geography unit, pupils can convey what they know of the key concepts which are relevant for the upcoming unit of study, ensuring they have the required prior knowledge to build upon. This allows teachers to revisit any key knowledge required for the upcoming unit of study. At the end of each unit, pupils can then convey what they have learned by answering a conceptual question which allows them to apply all that they have learnt, coming to an answer based on the knowledge they have gained throughout the unit of study.

Our Geography curriculum is designed so that pupils learn how to collect, interpret and represent data using geographical methodologies and make informed opinions about geographical issues by applying their geographical knowledge. Lessons incorporate various teaching strategies from independent tasks to paired or group work, including practical hands on and collaborative tasks. This variety means that lessons are engaging and appeal to those with a variety of learning styles. Fieldwork at Lyppard Grange Primary School includes smaller opportunities on the school grounds and utilising our local area, to off-site visits to investigate physical and human features.

IMPACT 

From the geography teaching at Lyppard Grange Primary School, our children will gain an understanding of their local environment and the wider world. They will be able to identify human and physical features in each of the places they study and gain an understanding of how human and physical geography can be interconnected. As they progress through the school, they develop a deep knowledge, understanding and appreciation of their local area and its place within the wider geographical context as they understand the positioning of our country on a global scale. They will develop a sense of responsibility for sustainability and how they can be a responsible global citizen. They will learn to express their ideas and questions on a variety of topics such as climate change, trade links, populations, and explore the wonder of different biomes throughout the globe. Through undertaking fieldwork, pupils will gain a range of transferable skills including communication, teamwork and problem solving. With engaging and creative teaching, our aim is to shape pupils into curious, excited and inspired geographers, with an enthusiasm, appreciation and respect for the world around them. In addition, they will gain an understanding of how human and physical processes continue to have an impact on the world around us.

The expected impact of our geography curriculum on pupils is that they will have gained the knowledge and skills set out in the National Curriculum aims and objectives, meeting the EYFS Understanding the World Early Learning Goals, and the end of key stage expectations. Teachers at Lyppard Grange Primary School will use formative assessment opportunities to ensure that our geography curriculum is having the desired impact. Upon leaving Lyppard Grange Primary School, pupils will leave school equipped with a range of skills and knowledge, substantive and disciplinary, to enable them to study Geography with confidence at Key stage 3.