Subject Lead: Mrs Leer

Geography Intent

At Holtspur School and Preschool, it is our intention that Geography will inspire pupils with an inquisitiveness and fascination about the world and its people that will continue throughout their lives. 

Within lessons, geography is gradually being taken outside the classroom to gain hands on experiences.  This ranges from fieldwork in the school grounds to visits and walks around the local community and further afield.  Fortunately, we are located in a beautiful part of the country with nearby rivers, cities and other manmade and natural environments.

The curriculum is designed to ensure that teaching equips pupils 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. As pupils progress through the school, their growing knowledge about the world helps them to deepen their understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes, and of the formation and use of landscapes and environments. Geographical knowledge and skills are progressive and are sequenced to provide the framework and approaches that provide explanation of how the Earth’s features at different scales are shaped, interconnected and change over time.

Geography is an enquiry led subject that seeks answers to important questions such as:

• Where is this place?
• What is it like? (And why?)
• How and why is it changing?
• How does this place compare with other places?
• How and why are places connected?

It is important that a geographer, no matter how young doesn’t just answer questions but also asks and debates them.

• What could/should the world be like in the future?
• What can we do to influence change?

Geography draws on its vast range of vocabulary to identify and name places, the features within them and the human and physical processes at work there.  Such core knowledge provides the building blocks of deeper explanation and understanding providing entry points to geographical conversations about the world.

Geography deals with the here and now of real life and as such is a vital living subject that contributes to and enhances the wider curriculum.  Although geography can be taught alone, it also offers meaningful contexts for high quality cross-curricular work.