Geography at All Saints Primary School
"The study of geography is about more than just memorising places on a map. It's about understanding the complexity of our world, appreciating the diversity of cultures that exist across continents, and ultimately, using that knowledge to bring people together and inspire action."
— Barack Obama
At All Saints Primary School, our Geography curriculum inspires children’s curiosity and wonder about the world around them while fostering respect for diverse cultures and a commitment to sustainable development. Guided by our Christian values, we encourage pupils to make sense of their surroundings, understand physical and human processes, and recognise their role as positive global citizens.
Curriculum Intent & Vision
Our Geography curriculum is designed to:
- Foster curiosity and understanding: Provoke and answer questions about the natural and human features of our world.
- Support holistic growth: Promote spiritual, moral, social, and cultural (SMSC) development alongside transferable academic skills.
- Build progressive knowledge: Ensure geographical understanding and enquiry skills develop cumulatively throughout each child's time at school.
How Geography is Taught
Geography is delivered in alternate half-termly blocks using the Kapow Primary Geography scheme of work. Units are anchored by engaging ‘Big Questions’ that challenge pupils to apply both substantive knowledge (topic facts and locations) and disciplinary knowledge (enquiry and map skills).
Learning is structured around 6 Core Geographical Skills:
- Observing: Making detailed observations of local and global environments.
- Grouping: Categorizing physical and human features, climate zones, and land use.
- Questioning: Formulating and answering geographical enquiry questions using specific vocabulary.
- Explaining: Describing environmental interactions, physical processes, and cause-and-effect relationships.
- Linking: Connecting human activity with physical processes and cross-curricular learning.
- Researching: Evaluating maps, aerial photographs, graphs, and statistics to draw conclusions.
Key Stage Learning Journey
- Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS): Children explore habitats, local environments, and different places through play, sensory exploration, and guided talk within the Understanding the World area of learning.
- Key Stage 1 (Years 1 & 2): Pupils learn to name the world's seven continents and five oceans, locate UK countries and capital cities, and compare a local UK area with a contrasting non-European region. They study weather patterns, hot and cold climate zones, and carry out local observational field surveys using maps and atlases.
- Key Stage 2 (Years 3 to 6): Knowledge expands globally across the UK, Europe, and the Americas. Pupils investigate climate zones, biomes, rivers, mountains, volcanoes, earthquakes, settlements, and natural resource distribution. Map and fieldwork skills advance to using 8-point compass directions, 4- and 6-figure grid references, OS maps, and collecting digital fieldwork data.
Oracy, Sustainability & Inclusion
- Oracy & Literacy: Children build subject-specific vocabulary through structured partner talk and sentence stems in Key Stage 1, progressing to formal debates on environmental issues and writing news scripts or balanced reports in Key Stage 2.
- Sustainability & Eco-Warriors: Environmental responsibility is embedded across the curriculum, covering topics like climate change and plastic pollution. Our pupil-led Eco-Warriors council meets regularly to implement practical action plans that make our school greener.
- Inclusion for All: All lessons incorporate adaptive teaching strategies—such as multi-sensory tasks, scaffolding, and clear instructions—to ensure pupils with SEND and varied starting points can fully access and excel in Geography.
Please find our full Geography policy below