St Benedict's Catholic Primary School

In Geography at St Benedict’s Catholic Primary School, we aim for children to be able to:

• enable children to gain contextual knowledge and understanding of places in the world; both terrestrial and marine
• to increase children’s knowledge of other cultures and, in so doing, teach a respect and understanding of what it means to be a positive citizen in a multi-cultural country;
• to allow children to learn graphic skills, including how to use, draw and interpret maps; diagrams, aerial photographs and GIS
• to enable children to know and understand environmental problems at a local, regional and global level;
• to encourage in children a commitment to sustainable development and an appreciation of what ‘global citizenship’ means;
• to develop a variety of other skills, including those of enquiry, problem solving, ICT, investigation and how to present their conclusions in the most appropriate way.
• Interpret a range of geographical information including diagrams, aerial photographs and GIS

We use a variety of teaching and learning styles in our geography lessons. We believe in whole-class teaching methods and we combine these with enquiry rooted research activities. We encourage children to ask as well as answer geographical questions. We offer them the opportunity to use a variety of data, such as maps, statistics, graphs, pictures, and aerial photographs, and we enable them to use IT in geography lessons where this serves to enhance their learning. Wherever possible, we involve the children in ‘real’ geographical activities, e.g. research of a local environmental problem or use of the Internet to investigate a current issue.