Geography

At St John’s CE Primary School, our curriculum is designed to inspire lifelong learning and is anchored by our core motto: "The JOY of the Lord is Your Strength" (Jesus, Others, Yourself). We deliver an ambitious, sequentially structured, and inclusive education that celebrates the unique identity of every child. By blending a rigorous academic foundation with deep spiritual, moral, and social development, we nurture the curiosity, resilience, and confidence pupils need to flourish. Rooted in our strong Christian family ethos, our curriculum ensures that learning is accessible to all, fostering an environment where differences are celebrated and every individual is fully equipped to realise their God-given potential.

Intent

At St John’s CE Primary School our intent in geography is to deepen all children’s understanding of the world in which they live and to provide opportunities for them to understand that the world is a diverse place with many places to travel, beyond Southport. We want children to have a growing knowledge of ‘locations, places and regions’ on a local, national and international scale through the study of significant Geographical units of work, based on National Curriculum expectations.

Implementation

The learning journey for geography begins in EYFS with units of work such as ‘Local Area’ and ‘Countries around the world.’ This key learning builds upon children’s interests and provides the foundations for further study within the discipline of geography across the school.  From Y1-Y6, we then use the National Curriculum as a basis to continue to focus on the transferrable concepts of ‘location, place and region.’ These bespoke units begin on a local and national scale, before broadening to an understanding of carefully selected diverse places, people and resources spanning the globe. This fundamental knowledge of ‘location, place and region’ is progressively built upon through a deepening understanding of Human and Physical geography alongside the application of key geographical skills throughout all units.  

Through our bespoke unit planning, key unit vocabulary and knowledge organisers, children are able to begin to understand their own place in the world as well as the changing nature of the world around them. At each stage of study, knowledge is carefully considered across all units, building systematically on a growing understanding of locational and place knowledge, in addition to an understanding of human and physical geography. Skills to apply knowledge are also considered within the progression across year groups and include opportunities for fieldwork, the use of ‘Digimaps’ and enrichment opportunities. Furthermore our membership of the Geographical Association provides key knowledge and training opportunities.

Throughout our geography curriculum we provide carefully planned enrichment opportunities to aid children’s knowledge and skills. These opportunities have included: local area walks; visits to Southport and Liverpool; walking the Ingleton Waterfall trail and Chester Zoo. We also use a wide range of maps to identify places in the world and understand their physical and human geography.

Learning geography at St. John’s sparks a child's natural curiosity about the world and inspires a lifelong interest in exploring new cultures and protecting our planet's future.

Believe you can and you will…