Geography Intent and Implementation

Geography at Carlton Junior & Infants School is taught through engaging topics that follow the National Curriculum giving our children opportunities to explore their local surroundings, communities and wider geographical issues through engaging lessons combined with exciting opportunities, both theoretical and practical. We understand the importance of raising children to be responsible, inquisitive thinkers who are able to process new information, reflect on it, think critically, and apply knowledge and skills to overcome challenges in our ever-changing world. Understanding both human and physical geography will enable our children to have a better understanding of themselves and the wider world they live in as they grow up to be caring, responsible adults who can influence the future of our world.

Geography is taught, as a subject which allows the children to learn about a specific area in some depth. We teach geography in a planned, coherent way which is sequenced logically, ensuring that children learn and remember a rich body of geographical knowledge and acquire progressive geographical skills. Geographical skills are covered in depth over a two-year learning block, each block builds on the previous one. We provide a range of motivating experiences to engage our learners which include outdoor learning in the school’s grounds, fieldwork trips, class trips, and residentials in year 2 to Nell Bank, year 4 to Robinwood and Year 6 to London.

In Key Stage 1, the children learn about local and national geography, acquiring basic map reading skills, learning what a city is, weather monitoring and exploring their local environment. In Key Stage 2, we expand to international geography and delve deeper into human and physical geography. Children will learn about geographical processes such as how mountains are formed, the journey of a river and the water cycle. Year 4’s residential includes geography fieldwork using GPS. In geography, as in other subjects, pupils have wide opportunities to apply and practice their reading and writing.