'Geography is a living breathing subject, constantly adapting itself to change. It is dynamic and relevant. For me, Geography is a great adventure with a purpose.'

Michael Palin

Why we teach your child geography:

Our aim is to give children a high-quality geography education to inspire a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives.​We want children to develop their awareness of where they live and how is it similar and different to the world beyond them. It is important to us that the children at St. Joseph's gain an extensive base of geography knowledge and vocabulary so that they, as well-informed citizens, can express well-balanced opinions about current issues in society and the environment. What is more, the geographical skills they develop give them distinctive tools with which to successfully navigate and engage with their world. The valuing of personal experience of space and place lies at the heart of our geography curriculum. Overall, it is our aim to foster in our learners a genuine interest in Geography, change (locally and globally) and possible futures, which they will take to secondary school and beyond!

What our curriculum looks like:

PRINCIPLES

A guiding principle of CUSP Geography is that each study draws upon prior learning. For example, in the EYFS, pupils may learn about People, Culture and Communities or The Natural World through daily activities and exploring their locality and immediate environment. This is revisited and positioned so that new and potentially abstract content in Year 1 can be put into a known location and make it easier to cognitively process.

Pupils in EYFS explore globes and world locations through their curiosity corners, making links to where animals live. This substantive knowledge is used to remember and position the locations of continents and oceans, with more sophisticated knowledge. High volume and deliberate practice are essential for pupils to remember and retrieve substantive knowledge and use their disciplinary knowledge to explain and articulate what they know. This means pupils make conscious connections and think hard, using what they know.

CUSP Geography is built around the principles of cumulative knowledge focusing on spaces, places, scale, human and physical processes with an emphasis on how content is connected and relational knowledge acquired. An example of this is the identification of continents, such as Europe, and its relationship to the location of the UK.

CUSP Geography equips pupils to become ‘more expert’ with each study and grow an ever broadening and coherent mental model of the subject. This guards against superficial, disconnected and fragmented geographical knowledge. Specific and associated geographical vocabulary is planned sequentially and cumulatively from Year 1 to Year 6. High frequency, multiple meaning words (tier 2) are taught and help make sense of subject specific words (tier 3).

Each learning module in geography has a vocabulary module with teacher guidance, tasks and resources. CUSP Geography is planned so that the retention of knowledge is much more than just ‘in the moment knowledge’. The cumulative nature of the curriculum is made memorable by the implementation of Bjork’s desirable difficulties, including retrieval and spaced retrieval practice, word building and deliberate practice tasks.

This powerful interrelationship between structure and research-led practice is designed to increase substantive knowledge and accelerate learning within and between study modules. That means the foundational knowledge of the curriculum is positioned to ease the load on the working memory: new content is connected to prior learning. The effect of this cumulative model supports opportunities for children to associate and connect with places, spaces, scale, people, culture and processes.

Geography is the study of where places are found, what they are like and the relationships between people and their environments.

Substantive knowledge - this is the subject knowledge and explicit vocabulary used to learn about the content. Common misconceptions are explicitly revealed as non-examples and positioned against known and accurate content as pupils become more expert in their understanding. Misconceptions are challenged carefully and in the context of the substantive and disciplinary knowledge. In CUSP Geography, it is recommended that misconceptions are not introduced too early, as pupils need to construct a mental model in which to position new knowledge.

CUSP have defined substantive concepts that are the suggested vehicle to connect the substantive knowledge. These are defined at the start of every study in the Big Idea.

Disciplinary knowledge – this is the use of knowledge and how children become a little more expert as a geographer by Thinking Geographically. CUSP draw upon the work of Cresswell, Lambert and Massey to offer suggestions about the discipline of geography.

Geographical analysis is developed through selecting, organising and integrating knowledge through reasoning and making sense of the content in response to structured questions and well-designed tasks that cause children to think hard as geographers.

Substantive concepts are the big ideas, and the golden threads, that run through a coherent and cohesive geography curriculum. They can include place, space, scale, interdependence, physical and human processes, environmental impact, sustainable development, cultural awareness and cultural diversity. Concepts such as change through erosion are taught through explicit vocabulary instruction as well as through the direct content and context of the study.

CUSP fulfils and goes well beyond the expectations of the National Curriculum. CUSP was the right fit for St. Joseph's Primary school as we believe there is no ceiling to what pupils can learn if the architecture and practice is founded in evidence-led principles.

We have carefully mapped our curriculum, carefully considering some of the following:

• How is locational and place knowledge developed?
• How are physical and human processes developed?
• Is the curriculum planned in accessible step-by-step manner so children can build on previous learning?
• Are we enabling children to remember what is most important?
• How does our EYFS learning set the foundation for geography?
• Is fieldwork intertwined meaningfully throughout the curriculum?

How you can help your child at home:

EYFS and Key Stage 1

• Encourage your child to observe the world around them. On a walk talk about how some houses and buildings look older than others.
• Talk about your route to school or the shops. What do you see on the way? Can you draw what you see? Can you draw a simple may?
• Look at a map of the UK- where you do live? Have you lived anywhere else?

Key Stage 2

• Visit the National Geographic Kids for the most amazing videos and facts about our wonderful world, along with fun competitions, games and more!
• The Ordnance Survey Mapzone is full of lively online activities and games that children can play, which also develop their map skills and knowledge.
• Visit the Natural History Museum and explore the Volcanoes and Earthquakes section. Be sure to check out the earthquake simulator, showing what it was like during the 1995 Kobe, Japan earthquake