St John XXIII Catholic Primary School

Geography at St John XXIII Catholic Primary School

Humanities encompasses geography and history. These disciplines share many common themes, concepts and transferable skills, while having their own discrete body of knowledge and skills. Throughout the year, each year group studies a variety of topics to allow our learning to focus on core subject specific knowledge and skills. Links across and between subjects give children a broad base of knowledge, facts, vocabulary, real-life experience and contexts to use for learning.

In Geography, children focus on 5 key areas of geography: location, place, human geography, physical geography, and map skills and fieldwork. In History, children focus on the core skills of chronology and sequencing. They also look at a range of different evidence in order to find out about the past, making links across periods and events in which they’ve studied. Within each topic, lessons follow carefully planned sequences which support children to build on their previous knowledge and skills whilst learning new content. Both history and geography lessons take various forms. Throughout our school there is a balance of practical, hands-on learning, research reading and written recording of knowledge.

The humanities area seeks to awaken a sense of wonder, fire the imagination and inspire learners to grow in knowledge, understanding and wisdom. At St John’s, we aim to give our children a humanities curriculum which enables them to become confident, creative and independent learners who can explore the use of different knowledge and skills throughout their learning. We seek to broaden children’s real-life experiences both inside and outside of school through educational visits, experience days, exploration and discovery. In the last year, we have worked very hard to design a curriculum which reflects our children’s heritages and expands their horizons. Within lessons, our children acquire a range of knowledge and skills in both history and geography which they can then apply to other subjects and in a variety of situations. Furthermore, it is our aim that through historical and geographical learning, children will become accountable citizens, understanding their role in protecting our world and environment and knowing how they can cause positive change and development as they grow.

Intent

At St John XXIII, Humanities inspires curiosity about the world and encourages children to explore the stories, places and people that shape our lives. Guided by Pope Leo’s Maps of Hope, we support every child on a journey of discovery, helping them to understand their place in the world and their responsibility to others. 

Our Humanities curriculum is carefully sequenced so that knowledge and skills build progressively from Early Years to Year 6. Through planned enquiry, children develop chronological understanding, geographical knowledge and the ability to interpret evidence. Key concepts and vocabulary are revisited and deepened over time so that pupils can make meaningful connections across topics and across subjects. 

We provide rich opportunities for enquiry, fieldwork, and first-hand experiences that bring learning to life. Children are encouraged to ask questions, analyse sources, and reflect on how the past and present shape the future. Through Humanities, pupils develop a sense of identity, cultural awareness and respect for diversity. 

We hold high expectations for all learners. Through inclusive teaching and appropriate challenge, every child is supported to succeed and to develop a love of learning. Our aim is for pupils to leave St John XXIII with a strong understanding of the world, ready to engage confidently with the wider community and continue their learning journey. 

Through Humanities, our pupils will: 

Communicate with confidence and clarity, using subject-specific vocabulary to explain and debate their ideas. 
Journey as resilient learners, exploring enquiry, evidence and interpretation with perseverance and hope. 
Recognise their God-given dignity and potential, understanding that every voice and story matters. 
Step forward with ambition and purpose, developing a deep understanding of the world and their role within it.

Implementation

Our mission statement sums up the expectations fostered at our school. We have a belief in teaching for depth and mastery so that in almost all cases and circumstances, a child can be supported to reach age related expectations in reading, writing and maths.  

We use the National Curriculum to ensure every teacher teaches the knowledge and understanding appropriate to that age group. The framework has been broken down into objectives to ensure there is clarity for the teaching staff on coverage. We value a knowledge led curriculum where we aim to develop children’s thinking and reasoning.  

Geography is taught with History as part of the Topic lesson. This approach ensures children can develop their knowledge and understanding of both subjects whilst apply their knowledge to support the development of their understanding.   

Geography lessons are taught in blocks throughout the year so that children can achieve depth in their learning. Teachers have identified the key knowledge and skills of each unit of learning. At the beginning of each Geography topic, children can convey what they know already as well as what they would like to find out. This informs the programme of study and also ensures that lessons are relevant and take account of children’s different starting points. Careful consideration is given to how greater depth will be taught, learnt and demonstrated within each lesson, as well as how different learning groups will be supported. Teachers utilised the local area as well as guest speakers (where applicable) to achieve the desired outcomes, with extensive opportunities for learning outside the classroom embedded in practice. 

As part of this planning process, teachers plan for the following: 

A knowledge organiser for all subjects to ensure consistency across all areas of the curriculum; 
A cycle of lessons for each subject, which carefully plans for progression and depth; 
Double Page Spreads at the end of each topic to show how learning is embedded throughout a topic 
Challenge questions for pupils to apply their learning in a philosophical and open manner 
Trips and visiting experts who will enhance the learning experience;

Impact

We measure the impact of our geography curriculum through the following methods:

In Class Feedback

In Geography, we understand that feedback in linked to progress and has to be timely to make an impact. In-class feedback is used to support teacher’s workload.

Assessment

Geography is a subject that embraces discussion and reflection. Teachers therefore assess oral contribution in lessons i.e. the confidence and ability of a pupil to express ideas based or based upon opinion and perspective.

Our children complete a Big Question at the end of each geography topic (Year 2 to Year 6) to show their understanding of key geographical knowledge.

Teaching Assistants and Interventions

Teaching assistants may be used in geography lessons in the following ways: