Geography

GEOGRAPHY
at The Winterton Federation

Geography lessons at The Winterton Federation foster spiritual development by encouraging pupils to reflect on the natural and human world. Studying Rivers and Waterways invites awe at the power and complexity of natural systems, prompting questions about environmental stewardship and personal responsibility. Pupils consider how human actions impact rivers and wildlife, developing an ethical awareness of sustainability.

In Mountains and Volcanoes, pupils explore landscapes that inspire wonder and curiosity. They reflect on their own feelings when learning about extreme environments and how people adapt to and respect these conditions. This develops empathy for communities living in different parts of the world and encourages pupils to consider how culture, geography, and human ingenuity interact.

Units such as Our Local Area promote reflection on pupils’ immediate surroundings, helping them value their community and environment. Mapping, fieldwork, and data collection encourage observation, interpretation, and contemplation of how spaces are used and shared. Pupils are asked to think about fairness, accessibility, and inclusion when considering local resources.

Collaborative tasks, such as group projects or field investigations, develop interpersonal skills, cooperation, and reflection on others’ perspectives. Pupils engage in meaningful discussions about sustainability, cultural diversity, and global interdependence, fostering empathy, moral reasoning, and awareness of social responsibility.

Cross-curricular links to science, history, and PSHE allow pupils to see the spiritual significance of human interaction with the planet. For example, studying climate change alongside human activity encourages reflection on ethical decision-making and personal responsibility.

Finally, geography lessons encourage pupils to reflect on personal growth, perseverance, and the development of curiosity. By exploring real-world contexts and diverse perspectives, pupils develop self-awareness, critical thinking, and a sense of interconnectedness with the wider world.

Example :

Scheme: National Curriculum Geography / Medium-Term Planning Units
Unit examples: Rivers and Waterways (Year 4), Mountains and Volcanoes (Year 6), Our Local Area (Year 1)

💡 Intent

At The Winterton Federation, our vision is to help develop children’s curiosity and fascination in their own surroundings and the variety of conditions in the wider world. We believe geography needs to offer interesting and exciting ways for pupils to engage with all aspects of our amazing planet. Children should have many opportunities to use investigative and problem-solving skills to develop their understanding, both inside and outside the classroom with local fieldwork and visits. We also aim to help develop an informed concern and sense of responsibility for the care of the Earth and its people.

🛠️ Implementation

Our Geography curriculum uses the National Curriculum aims as a basis for our curriculum planning in geography, integrating a sequential development of knowledge, whilst developing a range of skills and expansion of vocabulary across all key stages.

Overarching curriculum themes are planned through the school with specific geographical themes detailed in the Geography Long Term Plan (LTP). These themes and associated objectives form the Scheme of Work for each year group ensuring a basis of retrieving and developing knowledge as detailed in the Geography Road Map.

This ensures that the our scheme of work identifies what pupils already know, before outlining the new learning in the next stage of the learning journey. Children will use their knowledge about environmental, physical and human geography (substantive knowledge) and challenge their understanding by asking geographical questions, as geography is a dynamic subject with changing ideas and viewpoints. Disciplinary knowledge is developed by: taking a holistic view of geography; making decisions about the validity of geographical questions asked; methods applied and the answers found; seeing how differing content is interconnected.

Lesson 1
Establish what the children already know from previous themes and introduce the key enquiry questions. Our initial focus is to inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the theme. Children are given the opportunity to create their own lines of enquiry, with the aim of answering all questions by the end of the theme.

Unit 1
Throughout the unit of work, pupils acquire new knowledge, geographical skills and experiences as they focus on their chosen geographical area. Each lesson begins with a retrieval activity, designed to revisit previous learning and strengthen the recall of key and sticky knowledge.

🌟 Impact

The unit of learning finishes with a summary of the field studied. The enquiry questions from the beginning of the theme, including the pupil lines of enquiry, are revisited to ensure these have been answered.

Although we work thematically, we are careful to  ensure every subject is distinct and that the skills and knowledge specific to that subject are taught. All topics have a half termly knowledge organiser (examples can be seen on this page) which pick out the key knowledge we want the children to learn.

We baseline test the children before each topic and then after each topic to see what has been learnt and address any misconceptions or gaps in learning. SEND pupils , where appropriate, are pre-taught sticky vocabulary and key concepts.

We expect the children to talk confidently about different subjects and to be able to articulate prior knowledge, making links to other subjects across the curriculum.

Every lesson focuses clearly on subject specific knowledge and vocabulary.