Thorncombe St Mary's
CE Primary Academy

At Thorncombe St Mary's CE Primary Academy, we aim to inspire children's curiosity and fascination about the world around them. As a small rural village school, we believe it is important that our children develop both a strong understanding of their local area and an appreciation of the wider world.

Through an ambitious and progressive curriculum, children develop their knowledge of locational and place knowledge, human and physical geography, and geographical skills and fieldwork. They learn to ask questions, interpret maps, collect and analyse data, and understand how people and environments interact.

Geography learning is carefully sequenced so that children regularly revisit and build upon their previous knowledge, helping them to remember key concepts and make connections between different places and topics over time. We encourage children to compare locations, identify similarities and differences, and consider how physical and human processes shape the world around us.

Wherever possible, learning is enriched through fieldwork and first-hand experiences. Children explore our local area, developing practical geographical skills while investigating the features of Thorncombe and the surrounding countryside. They also study contrasting locations across the UK and the wider world, helping them to become informed, responsible global citizens who understand the importance of caring for our environment and the communities within it.