Geography | Sholing Junior School

Intent and Implementation Statement for Geography

A high-quality geography education should inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. Teaching should equip 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, their growing knowledge about the world should help 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, understanding and skills provide the frameworks and approaches that explain how the Earth’s features at different scales are shaped, interconnected and change over time.

Our geography teaching equips pupils with knowledge about places and people, resources in the environment, and an understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes that have shaped our landscapes and environments. Geographical knowledge, understanding and skills provide the framework to explain how the Earth’s features are shaped, interconnected and change over time. We also want children to develop strong geographical skills: collecting and analysing data; using maps, atlases, globes, aerial photographs and digital mapping to name, identify and locate countries, continents and oceans. We want pupils to communicate their learning in a variety of ways—including sketch maps with keys and diagrams, tables and graphs, and clear, purposeful writing.

Throughout, we explicitly foster:

Curiosity through enquiry-led learning, fieldwork questions, and problem-solving.
Kindness through respectful use of environments, careful fieldwork conduct, and celebrating diverse cultures and communities.
Success through well-sequenced progression, precise vocabulary, deliberate practice, and meaningful feedback so all pupils know how to improve and feel proud of their achievements.

Our Aims

At Sholing Junior School, to help children make sense of the world in which they live, we aim to:

Stimulate awe and wonder, curiosity, and enjoyment of our world.
Give children a sense of identity and belonging to their own locality and the wider world, showing kindness and respect for all communities.
Inspire respect, responsibility and care for the Earth and its people—and understand what it means to be a positive, kind citizen in a multicultural country.
Develop children’s knowledge and understanding of the human and physical nature of the world, appreciating the rich diversity of environments and cultures throughout the world with kindness and open-minded curiosity.
Encourage children to care about, and show kindness and compassion towards, their own locality and other places in the world.
Explore the relationship between places and environments through curious enquiry and careful observation.
Identify patterns which exist in the world and explain them using evidence.
Develop children’s skills and knowledge of geographical concepts so that every learner experiences success and can articulate their understanding confidently.

Why We Teach Geography

Geography is taught at Sholing Junior School in order to develop key geographical skills and concepts. Through the teaching of geography children will learn to:

Understand a variety of places, both local and global, and locate these places on maps—guided by curiosity and communicated with kindness and accuracy for successful outcomes.
Investigate the local area through off-site visits and fieldwork, demonstrating kindness to people and places and using curious questions to drive enquiry.
Recognise how human and physical features inter-relate, encouraging a sense of community cohesion and kindness in how we talk about different places.
Know and understand environmental issues at local, regional and global scales, acting with kindness and responsibility.
Investigate how localities differ, how they change and why—asking curious questions and building successful explanations using evidence.
Develop, enhance and apply geographical skills in place and thematic contexts primarily through enquiry, using research, fieldwork and decision-making skills that lead to successful conclusions.
Use a range of fieldwork skills and techniques to collect primary data, conducting themselves with kindness and care for the environment.
Use a wide range of resources (e.g. books, internet, photographs and local experts) to collect secondary data, driven by curiosity and critical thinking.
Analyse and interpret information about their surroundings and present findings in a variety of ways—including computing—so that their success is clear and sharable.
Draw and read maps and plans at a range of scales and types, for different purposes, with precision that reflects successful learning.
Develop and extend precise geographical vocabulary, using kind and respectful language about people and places, and questioning with curiosity.

What It Means to Be a Geographer at Sholing

To be a geographer is to question things: where things are located on the surface of the Earth, why they are located where they are, how places differ from one another and how people interact with the environment. By the time children leave Sholing Junior School, we want them to have enjoyed learning about geography and to be equipped with the necessary geographical skills and knowledge to be ready for Key Stage 3. Above all, in this ever‑changing world, the study of geography will deepen their knowledge of places and peoples across the globe and encourage them to ask curious questions, act with kindness towards people and the planet, and experience success as confident, thoughtful, and responsible young geographers—now and in the future.

Implementation

Our geography curriculum is designed to provide a clear, progressive structure. There are 3 units per year group and these are taught on a half-termly basis every week. Each unit builds upon prior knowledge and skills, ensuring continuity and depth of learning across year groups. Retrieval activities are embedded throughout to revisit and reinforce previously learned concepts, supporting long-term retention. Lessons follow the I Do, We Do, You Do model, enabling explicit teaching, guided practice, and independent application. Vocabulary is carefully integrated into each unit to strengthen geographical literacy and understanding.

We use a range of high-quality resources, including atlases, online mapping tools, and opportunities for fieldwork to provide real-life experiences and bring geography to life. Assessment is ongoing within each unit to identify and address misconceptions promptly, and there is a formal assessment at the end of every unit to measure progress and inform next steps.

Our approach aims to make geography meaningful and engaging, connecting classroom learning to the wider world and fostering curiosity about diverse places, people, and environments.