Geography Curriculum Statement

The Geography curriculum at Round Diamond School is designed to develop our children’s curiosity and fascination about the world through our substantive concepts and disciplinary knowledge. We are committed to providing children with opportunities to investigate and make enquiries about their local area of Great Ashby and Stevenage so that they can develop a meaningful sense of who they are, their heritage and what makes our local area special.

Through high quality teaching and a progressive curriculum, we develop essential characteristics of geographers within our children. The curriculum design builds up children’s use of geographical vocabulary and enables them to communicate their findings effectively. In the Early Years we focus on the world around us and changes we see throughout the year. In KS1 we focus on local geography, moving further afield in KS2.

Our aim is that our children will leave us with a genuine interest in Geography. In this ever-changing world and with a high percentage of children within Round Diamond having English as an additional language, the study of Geography will deepen their knowledge of the places and people across the world and encourage them to explore, ask questions and undertake new experiences both now and in the future.

Substantive concepts and Disciplinary knowledge

Substantive concepts refer to the key concepts that we want the children to learn throughout our history curriculum these include 

• Place Knowledge
• Locational Knowledge
• Human and Physical 
• Geographical skills and fieldwork

These have been purposefully planned in throughout the curriculum from Early Years - Year 6 

Pupils make more sense and deeper understanding of the substantive concepts and knowledge by using what they know through disciplinary knowledge. Disciplinary knowledge refers to how children can 'think like historians'

• Place and Space 
• Scale and Connection 
• Physical and Human 
• Environment and Sustainability 
• Culture and Diversity 

Key Vocabulary Progression 

Vocabulary is taught through a tiered system where the children learn the necessary vocabulary for our history curriculum. Here is an example of our tiered vocabulary for a year 3 unit of learning. 

The vocabulary is split into tier 2 and tier 3 vocabulary to ensure that children are explicitly taught subject specific vocabulary and language which can be used cross-curricularly. 

Geography in the EYFS

Within the EYFS, Geography is taught through our theme lessons and within our child initiated learning. The children are given opportunities to learn the earliest geographical skills through exploration, awe and wonder.