GEOGRAPHY CURRICULUM INTENT STATEMENT

INTENT

At Butterwick C of E Primary School our Geography curriculum aims to provide a rich cultural capital and a coherent, structured geography curriculum that leads to a sustained mastery for all and a greater depth of understanding for those who are capable.

Our geography curriculum aims to develop pupils’ knowledge and understanding of the world, its people, places, and environments, beginning with their local area and extending to the wider world. The curriculum is designed to build secure locational knowledge and a clear understanding of physical and human geography, enabling pupils to recognise patterns, make comparisons, and understand how places are connected. Through carefully sequenced learning, pupils develop essential geographical skills, including map use, fieldwork, and enquiry, allowing them to ask questions, observe, investigate, and communicate their understanding. The curriculum aims to foster curiosity, respect for the environment, and an informed awareness of the diverse world in which they live.

IMPLEMENTATION

Our Geography curriculum at Butterwick C of E Primary School is based on the National Curriculum and linked to our termly topics. The Geography curriculum is implemented through a carefully sequenced programme of study that builds knowledge, skills, and vocabulary progressively from EYFS, Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 2. Learning begins with pupils’ local area and expands to include regional, national, and global contexts, ensuring that new knowledge builds securely on prior learning. Teaching is underpinned by the National Curriculum strands of locational knowledge, place knowledge, human and physical geography, and geographical skills and fieldwork. A range of high quality resources, including maps, atlases, globes, aerial images, and digital mapping tools, are used to support pupils’ understanding. Fieldwork and first hand experiences are planned purposefully to deepen understanding of geographical processes and to develop enquiry skills. Teachers use consistent geographical vocabulary and questioning to support pupils in thinking critically, making connections, and communicating their understanding effectively.

IMPACT

At Butterwick C of E Primary School our geography curriculum will develop a passion for the subject, with children who have a real sense of curiosity to find out about the world and the people that live in it. Children will be able to express well-balanced opinions, rooted in good knowledge and understanding about current and contemporary issues in society and the environment.

Pupils will understand the geographical location of places and their physical and human features and will be able to compare it to other places. Pupils will also be able to investigate patterns, understanding the relationships between the physical features of a place and the human activity within them, appreciating how the world’s natural resources are used and transported. They will use geographical vocabulary for physical and human geography and will have developed their mapping skills.