Helsby Hillside Primary SchoolGeography
'A high-quality geography curriculum should inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives.'
National Curriculum Programme of Study
Intent - What Do We Aspire for Our Children?
Our Curriculum Intent for Geography
At Helsby Hillside our geography curriculum fulfils the requirements of the National Curriculum by providing a broad and balanced, ambitious, and inclusive programme of study. Our curriculum aims to provide a sequential development of both substantive and disciplinary knowledge alongside the progressive development of key geographical concepts. From Reception to Year 6 the scope of each unit increases, expanding from the children’s immediate environment to the wider world. Place studies start within our locality and increase in scale to regional, national, and global studies, allowing children to revisit, develop, and challenge existing ideas and concepts.
We aim to inspire a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with our pupils into their secondary education and beyond. By the time children leave Helsby Hillside, our curriculum will have equipped pupils with a rich geographical knowledge of diverse places and people, together with a deep understanding of our planet’s key physical and human processes.
Our Curriculum
Each year group studies three units of geography, one each term. Each unit of work is underpinned by rich, substantive knowledge and ambitious vocabulary, whilst also ensuring children are developing their disciplinary knowledge (geographical skills).
Through our geography curriculum, children will develop:
- Locational knowledge;
- Place knowledge;
- Human and physical Geography;
- Geography skills and fieldwork.
Some units are essentially human geography; others physical geography, but most are holistic geography, considering human and physical geography together – this reflects the real, undifferentiated world of the pupil. Whilst learning substantive knowledge is central to our curriculum, knowledge is not an endpoint in itself, it is a springboard to learning more knowledge. Each unit is planned carefully to ensure concepts are taught in optimal order so children can build their schema incrementally, enabling them to grasp complex geographical ideas. As well as developing a breadth of geographical knowledge, we want our children to become skilful geographers. Each unit of work has an emphasis on geographical enquiry where children investigate geographically framed questions. In addition to substantive and disciplinary knowledge, children will develop their experiential knowledge through carefully planned fieldwork.
