Intent

At Trinity Primary School, we are committed to fostering an enthusiasm for Geography,  giving pupils the confidence to interact with the wider and diverse world, ultimately leading to fulfilled and positive life experiences. We aim to inspire curiosity and fascination about the world whilst developing pupils' understanding of their place within it. We endeavour to equip our pupils with an appreciation of places and their importance to us, of our impact on them and how we can manage and develop them sustainably in our roles as global citizens. The curriculum encourages children to develop their communication skills by asking questions and engaging their creative and critical thinking about change and the implications for the future. 

Implementation

At Trinity Primary School we see geography as an interconnected network of skills and concepts which help pupils develop their geographical thinking, identify relationships and make connections with increasing fluency in different and more complex situations. Geography is taught through a combination of subject knowledge, geographical skills, enquiry and fieldwork. Learning takes place both inside and outside the classroom.

By using a rigorous matrix approach, the objectives of the National Curriculum are cross-referenced to the ‘Learning Means the World’ Curriculum and identified gaps are taught through National Curriculum specific geography units. Our Geography teaching offers children the opportunity to study a range of topics that investigate the physical processes of our planet, human societies and the economic and environmental challenges with the local, national and global context.

The Geography curriculum is carefully sequenced within themes to enable pupils to build on and contextualise learning. The Knowledge Building Pillars form a robust model of progression for knowledge and understanding, helping pupils to assimilate, synthesise and apply their learning within different geographical contexts. This also means that concepts are cumulatively built upon. For example, Processes and Changes would show children learning about deforestation in Madagascar in Pathfinders, identifying and using sources of evidence that show the changing landscape of Africa to learning about cause and effect of air and water pollution in different parts of the world in Navigators. 

Impact

As a result of Geography teaching at Trinity Primary School, you will see:

• Engaged pupils who are able to make sense of the world around them, better understanding the places they live in and how they are connected to a globalised world.
• Pupils who recognise their role as stewards of Planet Earth, at local, national and global scale
• Pupils appreciating and celebrating different societies and cultures and developing an understanding of the incredible diversity of landscapes and peoples.
• Pupils with a broader and deeper knowledge of places and a developed understanding of a range of scales (local > national > global).
• Pupils understanding the role and value of maps in observing, understanding, interpreting and valuing the world, from local to global perspective.
• Pupils accurately and skillfully using technical geographical vocabulary, thus enabling them to move from more concrete concepts to more abstract ones. 
• Learning being tracked and monitored through discussions, displays, photographic evidence and children’s work to ensure all pupils make good or better progress.

Subject lead: Emma Cahill