“Geography is a subject that which holds the key to our future.”

Michael Palin

Intent

At Runnymede St Edward’s Catholic Primary School, we aim to provide an ambitious, broad and engaging geography curriculum that inspires curiosity and develops children’s understanding of the world around them. Rooted in our school mission, “Have courage, do good, seed will grow in the children’s hearts,” and the 8 Edmund Rice Essentials, our curriculum encourages our Young Edwardians to appreciate the world God has created and recognise their responsibility to care for it.

Implementation

At Runnymede St Edward’s Catholic Primary School, geography is taught as a discrete subject through a carefully sequenced curriculum that builds on children's early experiences of Understanding the World in EYFS. In Key Stage 2, we use Opening Worlds, which has been carefully refined to prioritise essential geographical knowledge and skills, ensuring that learning is ambitious, manageable and progressive.

Our curriculum develops both substantive knowledge (what children know about places, environments and geographical processes) and disciplinary knowledge (how children think and work as geographers). Teachers explicitly teach geographical enquiry, mapping and fieldwork skills alongside core knowledge, enabling children to investigate places, interpret geographical information and make connections between people, places and environments.

Teachers inspire curiosity through engaging teaching, challenging questions and opportunities for discussion. Retrieval practice is embedded throughout our curriculum, enabling our Young Edwardians to revisit prior learning, make connections across topics and year groups, and deepen their geographical understanding. Ongoing formative assessment helps teachers identify misconceptions, revisit essential knowledge and adapt teaching to meet pupils' needs.

Practical activities, fieldwork and educational visits enrich geographical learning, providing opportunities for pupils to apply their knowledge and skills in meaningful, real-life contexts. Through these experiences, children develop confidence in using geographical vocabulary, asking questions and explaining their understanding of the world around them.

Impact

At Runnymede St Edward’s Catholic Primary School, we aim for our Young Edwardians to know more, remember more and develop the geographical knowledge and skills needed to understand the world around them.

We assess pupils’ understanding and retention of essential geographical knowledge through retrieval tasks at the beginning of new units, low-stakes quizzes midway through units and ongoing formative assessment. Teachers use questioning, discussions and pupils’ work to identify misconceptions, revisit learning and assess how effectively children can apply their geographical knowledge and skills. 

The impact of our curriculum is reflected in pupils’ ability to use geographical vocabulary accurately, make connections between places and environments, interpret maps, undertake fieldwork and explain physical and human geographical processes. We aim for all pupils, including those with SEND and disadvantaged pupils, to develop secure knowledge and increasing independence in geographical enquiry.

Our curriculum prepares pupils for the next stage of their education by developing curiosity, critical thinking and an understanding of their responsibility to care for the world. We are developing links with the Geography Department at St Edward’s College to strengthen curriculum continuity, fieldwork opportunities and progression into Key Stage 3