Geography

At Shiplake CofE Primary School, our intent is to provide a high-quality geography curriculum that inspires pupils’ curiosity and fascination about the world, communities, and our local environment. Geography is, by nature, an investigative subject that develops an understanding of concepts, knowledge, and skills that progress throughout their time with us. Our topic-based approach ensures these skills are transferable to other curriculum areas, promoting pupils’ spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development. Our local area provides ideal opportunities for investigation in woodlands, farmland, and river environments. We seek to promote children’s interest and understanding of diverse places, people, resources, and both natural and human environments, alongside a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes.

To ensure high standards of teaching and learning in geography, we implement a curriculum that is progressive throughout the whole school. Geography is taught as part of a termly topic, focusing on the knowledge and skills outlined in the National Curriculum. The progression document ensures the curriculum is covered, and the skills and knowledge taught are progressive from year group to year group.

At Shiplake Primary, we provide a variety of opportunities for geography learning inside and outside the classroom, using our local woodlands as a stimulus for various learning activities. From learning fundamental mapping skills in KS1 to fieldwork activities in KS2, we ensure a broad and balanced geography experience.

Learning will be supported through the use of knowledge organisers (which outline key knowledge and vocabulary) that provide scaffolding to help children retain new facts and vocabulary in their long-term memory. Knowledge organisers are used for pre-teaching, daily review, and assessment of children’s learning at the end of a topic.