Geography

Our Geography curriculum aims to inspire our pupils with a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people. It is designed to equip pupils with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources, natural and human environments. Children acquire a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes.

For an overview across all year groups, please see our Whole School Curriculum Map 2023-24

We use a variety of teaching and learning styles to develop children’s knowledge, skills and understanding. The programme of study is delivered through our topic-based curriculum, whereby pupils progress in all areas of the Geography National Curriculum through themed study.

Geography learning at Robert Blair School provides a rigorous, knowledge-rich grounding in all aspects of the subject, enabling children to understand the world in which they live, its complexity, beauty and challenges. Children not only develop an excellent understanding of the discipline but are also equipped with key vocabulary and ideas to support their learning in other subjects (including English and Mathematics). They will develop the cultural capital needed for life and for work. At Robert Blair School, pupils’ learning is extended through educational trips, visits and experts visiting our school.

Click here to see our Geography vocabulary ladder and our Geography knowledge ladder

Aims

To ensure that all pupils develop a contextual knowledge of the location of globally significant places – both terrestrial and marine – including their defining physical and human characteristics and how these provide a geographical context for understanding the actions of processes
To ensure that all pupils understand the processes that give rise to key physical and human geographical features of the world, how these are inter-dependent and how they bring about spatial variation and change over time
As they progress, pupils’ growing knowledge about the world will help them to deepen their understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes and of the formation and use of landscapes and environments
To ensure children retain key geographical knowledge in the long-term memory, such as naming capital cities, continents, seas and oceans.
To teach pupils to interpret a range of sources and geographical information, including maps, diagrams, globes, aerial photographs and Geographical Information Systems (GIS).

Impact

When our children leave us, they will:

Be equipped with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes
Use the correct geographical terms and vocabulary to communicate geographical ideas effectively
Communicate geographical information in a variety of ways, including through maps, numerical and quantitative skills and writing at length
Understand how humans continue to impact and influence the physical geography of the world in which we live; in turn, this will influence our pupils’ life choices in making the Earth a better place for all of its inhabitants
Be competent in the geographical skills needed to collect, analyse and communicate with a range of data gathered through experiences of fieldwork that deepen their understanding of geographical processes