Geography Curriculum Aims and Intent

At Hall Green Infant School we provide our children with an exciting and creative Geography curriculum, which is taught through themes and topics. This approach to teaching and learning inspires our children and engages them in their learning. Our aim is for children to be explorers; asking questions like: What do you think...? Why do you think...? How do you think...? Our Geography curriculum allows the children to be curious, playful and seek to delve beneath the surface of things. It allows our children to work in depth, giving them the time they need to consolidate learning. It also places direct experiences at the centre of our Geography curriculum and allows our children to become life-long learners.

Our Geography Curriculum aims to develop pupils’ interest in both their own surroundings and in the variety of physical and human conditions in the wider world. Our curriculum provides an interesting and exciting way for pupils to engage with both their local area and fascinating aspects of the world we live in. We believe it is important to provide our children with the opportunities to use a range of investigative and problem-solving skills, both in and outside the classroom, to develop a deep understanding of Geography. Themes are used to ensure links are made between countries and environments. Vocabulary is systematically taught to support children’s language acquisition, as this is vital for supporting our EAL and pupil premium children. Geography also has an important link to our eco themes by providing opportunities for pupils to develop their understanding and resolving issues about the environment and sustainable development.

At Key Stage 1 Geography involves, learning about the world we live in, children are taught to use a range of skills to develop their geographical knowledge. Children begin by finding out about their local environment and the people who live there, and they then begin to develop a greater understanding of our world, children will have the opportunity to learn about the UK, capital cities, continents, the five oceans and they learn to compare where we live, to different countries, looking at both physical and human features. In our school this begins in Nursery and continues to develop through to Year 2, building on what the children learn in each year group.