Geography Intent

Our Geography curriculum, which draws on links with other curriculum subjects, aims to develop children as local, national and global citizens. With each geography topic focussed around place, people or environments, we aim for children to gain a deep awareness of their place in the world, a connection to the world’s people through a sense of community and a responsibility for all environments.

In KS1, the children gain a secure understanding of their place within Portsmouth and the United Kingdom. Through first-hand observation, children will gain a locational awareness in our coastal city, as well as an understanding of human and physical features. This sets them up to be able to compare and contrast with other places.

As they move through KS2, they will extend their knowledge to the UK, Europe, North and South America, Africa and Asia.

Field trips and real life experiences provide children with context to their learning and ensure that children grasp the idea of what different landscapes look like in contrast to our urban setting.

At Gatcombe Park Primary School, we aim to develop children as geographers who demonstrate these characteristics:

• A curiosity about the diversity of the world and its people;
• An excellent knowledge of where places are, what they are like and why they have evolved as they have;
• A secure understanding of the ways in which places are independent and interconnected and how much human and physical environments are interrelated;
• A competence and confidence in carrying out practical fieldwork, with an ability to collect, analyse and communicate their ideas about the physical and human environment using increasingly refined geographical vocabulary;
• The ability to interpret a range of sources of geographical information, using these to inform their own opinions.