At Walkington Primary School, we have designed our Geography curriculum with the intent that it will inspire our children with a curiosity, fascination and appreciation of the world around them. It will equip them with a diverse knowledge and understanding of people, places, natural, human and physical geography. The curriculum progression will expand outwards from the immediate locality to the global but with a comparison and contrast to the touchstone of the local at each step. The curriculum will engage our children and facilitate and inspire them to become enquiring, resilient, independent, challenging thinkers and active global citizens with the confidence to use, and build on, their cultural capital (the essential knowledge that pupils need to be educated citizens, introducing them to the best that has been thought and said and helping to engender an appreciation of human creativity and achievement, The National Curriculum), learning and experiences – both inside and outside of the classroom.
At its core, we see our geography curriculum as a vehicle for helping our children understand the world around them (and beyond), and the impact they themselves can have upon that world. It will foster a sense of curiosity and excitement about progress and possibilities, and help them appreciate and support the increasingly fragile and vital ecosystems that connect us to the rest of our natural world. Their ability to understand the remote and abstract by carefully engaging with the practical will be of high value in many possible future career choices, and they will grow to regard scientific advancement as a most worthy and worthwhile human endeavour.
We will deliver a curriculum that aims:
- To stimulate curiosity about people and places, both locally and further away from home, so that the exploration of these themes and places can enhance their life chances.
- To build upon the pupils’ ‘personal geography’ (from their locality to the wider world and phenomena) by developing geographical skills, understanding and knowledge through studying places and themes, including fieldwork.
- To equip pupils with substantive knowledge about diverse societies, economies and cultures, in order for them to understand and appreciate the perspectives and world views of others.
- Over the program of study, pupils will gain coherent disciplinary knowledge and develop the skills required to make sense of the world in which they live and how it is constantly changing. Thus enabling pupils in later life to engage in open, appropriate and effective interactions across cultures.
- To develop a deepening understanding of the earth’s key physical and human processes. Once equipped with this knowledge, to – where appropriate – take direct action and make positive decisions which will be for the collective well-being and sustainable developments of others.
The school recognises that each pupil will be at a different point in terms of their learning journey by the time they transition to KS3; to fully understand and interlock these concepts requires maturity and a broad range of experiences, however we are committed to providing a learning pathway which amplifies these key messages in an age appropriate and sensitive manner.
This intention also aligns closely with our aim of promoting the “Global Competencies” outlined by the OECD.
