"Everything has to do with geography"

- Judy Martz

Intent

At Emmaus, we are geographers! Our intent is to ignite a passion for geography. Our curriculum aims to inspire pupils’ curiosity and fascination about the world and its people. We encourage children to develop a greater understanding and knowledge of the world, as well as their place in it. Our teaching of geography equips pupils with knowledge about diverse places and people; resources in the environment; human and physical processes; and formation and use of landscapes. In addition, we aim to develop children’s geographical skills such as: collecting and analysing data; using maps, globes and digital mapping to name and identify countries, continents, and oceans; and communicating information in a variety of ways.

In order to provide a range of opportunities for our children to develop as independent, successful learners with high aspirations, our Geography curriculum is also intrinsically linked to our whole school curriculum drivers:

• Gospel Values
• Cultural Capital
• Diversity
• Independence
• High expectations

Gospel Values

As a joint denominational school, Christian values are at the forefront of daily school life at Emmaus. The values of ‘Hope’, ‘Trust’, ‘Friendship’ and ‘Love’ are actively promoted throughout our Geography curriculum. They are encouraged to show respect for different people’s faiths, experiences, feelings and principles.

Cultural Capital

At Emmaus, we believe that a rich and broad curriculum builds cultural capital and we thus provide our children with a vast range of experiences and opportunities to help them progress and achieve success. We plan for enrichment opportunities and experiences. These include trips around the local area, inviting visitors into school, Geography Ambassador representatives, and assemblies.

Diversity

At Emmaus, we understand the importance of developing a curriculum that is diverse, allowing the children to expand their knowledge and understanding of many different identities in a manner appropriate to the subject matter being taught. The children study a range of diverse geographical content.

The EYFS curriculum provides children with opportunities to embed, empathise and engage with other cultures and traditions. Pupils are taught how to articulate their understanding about their locality and to ask questions about the world.

The KS1 and KS2 curriculum focuses on different continents and countries around the world. The children are provided with opportunities to compare and contrast these countries with their locality.

Independence

Our Geography curriculum heavily promotes independent learning. The children are encouraged to formulate their own questions and explore for themselves. They are encouraged to express their own findings freely via the use of open-ended questions and geographical enquiries, drawing upon the evidence from a range of sources.

High Expectations

In line with all areas of our school curriculum, we have high expectations for all children to achieve their potential in Geography - regardless of their starting points. The Geography curriculum and assessment system at Emmaus is developed to ensure that we motivate pupils, monitor progress and achieve consistently high standards. There are high expectations for children to use appropriate geographical vocabulary to articulate their thoughts and ideas. To support this, there is a clear and ambitious progression of vocabulary from Early Years to Year 6.

Implementation

Our long term planning throughout the school ensures coverage of the National Geography curriculum. Geography at Emmaus is taught in ‘topics’ throughout the year. The subject is taught over three half terms per year in Years 1, 2 and 6, focusing on knowledge and skills stated in the National Curriculum. Currently, as a school, we are transitioning to using the 'Opening Worlds' curriculum. This was introduced last year into Y3 and Y4 and will be implemented in 2023 in Year 5. Each topic will be taught over a half term and focus on enhancing the geographical knowledge and skills of each child in depth.

At Emmaus, we have identified the key knowledge and skills of each topic and consideration has been given to ensure progression across topics throughout each year group across the school. Pupils are encouraged to develop geographical skills in lessons and are challenged by a curriculum, which allows a local and global understanding of our lives and the processes within it. At Emmaus, we have high expectations of pupils and therefore, pupils are regularly assessed during lessons and following a unit of work. In addition, adaptive teaching will take place to ensure that all pupils can access the planned lessons.

The vast majority of geography topics are taught discretely but teachers make meaningful links across subjects, when possible. Cross curricular outcomes in geography are specifically planned for, with links between geography and English lessons, for example, are identified, planned for and utilised.

Impact

In Geography lessons, all pupils will have consistent access to high quality, safe and broad lessons, which develop their knowledge, skills and experiences of Geography. Children will also be encouraged to develop an interest in our world via the means of fieldwork and interesting activities.

The children’s knowledge and understanding are assessed against the 2014 National Curriculum statements for Geography. This is both ongoing, to inform future planning, and summative to share with staff, leaders and parents. This ensures lessons are well matched to the needs of the children, and by the end of each key stage, content within the National Curriculum is covered to prepare pupils for the next phase. It is our aim at Emmaus that all children make good progress and achieve the end of key stage expectations in Geography.