Geography

Our intent

We aim to inspire our children to be curious about the world  around them and the people that live there. We want to equip children with the knowledge they need to build an understanding and fascination with  people, places, environments and how these three interact with and impact each other. We want them to become critical thinkers who will take this learning with them throughout their lives.

Underpinning their learning will be the development of geographical skills including fieldwork, data analysis, the ability to both evaluate and learn from a range of sources as well as being able to communicate their learning in a variety of ways.

Implementation

We offer a curriculum that is guided by the national curriculum but goes beyond this to reflect current environmental issues, global affairs and to reflect our own local environment.

As children move through the school they will build upon their knowledge of diverse places and peoples from around the globe. They will learn about how landscapes are formed and used and make links between physical and human processes.

The Big Ideas are supported by key questions that are embedded within our curriculum and run throughout the year groups to give a framework for children to hang their knowledge on and to aid retrieval of prior learning. 

In EYFS, we implement Geography through exploring the world around us, as well as learning about people in the world, making links with children from other backgrounds and cultures.

In KS1

• children begin to gain simple locational knowledge about individual places and environments, especially in the local area, but also in the UK and wider world.
• Show understanding by describing the places and features they study using simple geographical vocabulary, identifying some similarities and differences and simple patterns in the environment .
• Pupils are able to investigate places and environments by asking and answering questions, making observations and using sources such as simple maps, atlases, globes, images and aerial photos.

KS2

• Children develop a more detailed and extensive framework of knowledge of the world, including globally significant physical and human features and places in the news.
• Understand in some detail what a number of places are like, how and why they are similar and different and how and why they are changing.
• Pupils know about some spatial patterns in physical and human geography, the conditions which influence those patterns, and the processes which lead to change. They show some understanding of the links between places, people and environments .
• Pupils are able to carry out investigations using a range of geographical questions, skills and sources of information including a variety of maps, graphs and images.
• They can express and explain their own opinions, and recognise why others may have different points of views.