Geography
At St Margaret Mary’s Catholic Junior School, our geography curriculum inspires children to be curious about the world and their place within it. We help pupils develop an understanding of different places, people and environments, exploring how physical processes and human activity shape our planet. Through our Catholic ethos, we encourage children to recognise their responsibility to care for our common home.
Each topic is shaped around a Big Question and supported by a carefully chosen book. These provide a meaningful starting point for enquiry, introduce geographical vocabulary and encourage children to make connections between their reading and the wider world.
Geography lessons follow our BRIGHT approach: Big Question; Recap/Retrieval; Information gathering; Go through examples; Have a go; Time to reflect. This structure helps children revisit previous learning, develop new knowledge and skills, apply their understanding and reflect on their answers to the Big Question.
Our curriculum builds progressively from Year 3 to Year 6. In Year 3, children explore the United Kingdom and compare the North West of England with Andalusia in Spain. Year 4 investigates mountains, rivers and the water cycle, before exploring volcanoes, earthquakes and their effects on people and environments. In Year 5, children examine how the Equator influences our world and study regions of North and South America, including why people live in particular places and how goods such as coffee and bananas connect communities through trade. Year 6 brings learning together through Our Changing World, with a focus on coasts and the relationship between physical and human geography.
Seven golden threads connect learning across the school: Place Knowledge, Scale, Diversity, Change, Interaction and Trade, Environment, and Tourism. Revisiting these themes helps children deepen their understanding, compare places and recognise connections between local issues and the wider world.
Mapping skills develop throughout the curriculum, progressing from four-figure to six-figure grid references and from four to eight compass points. Children learn to interpret geographical information, recognise patterns and use subject vocabulary to explain their findings. Fieldwork and practical enquiry help pupils connect classroom learning with the world around them. (Curriculum Enrichment Trips)
Links with reading, history, science, mathematics and Spanish give geography purpose and context. We support all pupils, including those with SEND, to access learning and contribute their ideas. Our aim is for children to leave SMMJ as knowledgeable, thoughtful young geographers who appreciate the diversity of our world and understand how their choices can help care for its future.
