At Our Lady Queen of Heaven, our definition of progress in Geography is the widening and deepening of essential knowledge, skills, understanding and learning behaviours. We design, organise and plan our curriculum to ensure that children are not merely covering content, but achieving a depth to their learning that enables them to use their skills and understanding in all areas of the curriculum.

It is our intention that Geography will inspire learners with a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people, that will remain with them throughout their lives. We strive to offer opportunities for learners to explore the environment around them in order to develop an understanding of the human and physical world in which they live in and their place within it. Throughout our teaching, emphasis is placed on promoting learner’s interest, respect and understanding about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes. It is our intention that Geography will build upon and enhance learner’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development helping them to have a greater understanding of their role as a citizen of Britain and their responsibility as a global citizen contributing positively to the world around them. Through building on and developing learners understanding as they acquire knowledge, learners are encouraged to be inquisitive and ask questions about the world and develop geographical skills and knowledge to be able to answer them. 

Through our intention to widen and deepen the essential skills within geography, it is our intention that the Geography curriculum will be both stimulating and motivating in order to capture the learner’s curiosity and fuel their motivation to learn. All learners are provided with exciting learning opportunities, acquiring and developing their skills and knowledge, perceiving the world as an interesting place. With a solid foundation upon which they can continue to build their knowledge, we hope that learners will continue to have a curiosity of the world throughout their life. 

National Curriculum aims:

The national curriculum for geography aims to ensure that all pupils:

• develop 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
• understand the processes that give rise to key physical and human geographical features of the world, how these are interdependent and how they bring about spatial variation and change over time
• are 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
  • interpret a range of sources of geographical information, including maps, diagrams, globes, aerial photographs and Geographical Information Systems (GIS)
  • communicate geographical information in a variety of ways, including through maps, numerical and quantitative skills and writing at length

We believe in quality teaching and learning. The aim for our learners is to have a fully encompassing creative curriculum, which engages their imagination and encourages the next steps in their learning. Our subjects are planned in Learning Topics and, wherever possible, seek to involve the learners and their interests in planning. 

Each Topic Experience takes appropriate objectives from the National Curriculum and they are then taught creatively to make even the most abstract of ideas real to the children. Each Topic Experience has an exciting start to 'hook' the learners in and ends with a purposeful outcome. Throughout the Topic Experience, learners are encouraged to think about what they are learning, why they are learning it and how they will be able to apply these new skills in a meaningful context. The creativity is backed up by a rigorous set of basic skills. 

Cornerstones Education has taken Topic Experiences and mapped out the National Curriculum across each Key Stage and ensures that learners work towards achieving the Programmes of Study outcomes by the end of each Key stage. Using the Cornerstones Topics, teachers are provided with guidance to ensure that can play their part in providing a well thought through broad and balanced curriculum within their year group and how this fits in within the learners’ whole school experience.  One of the key aims of using this vehicle for our curriculum is to create excited and enthusiastic learners, who have been taught to explore ideas, take risks, solve problems, be inspired as well as inspire those around them, within meaningful contexts. Choosing topics carefully and planning to suit the needs to each cohort of learners: preparing learners who will are able to make positive contributions now and in the future; learners who feel confident to take risks and take their own learning forward; learners who explore ideas and are questions and self-motivated.