Geography

Intent

The intent of our geography curriculum is that our children will be inspired to have a life-long curiosity and interest to explore the world around them and the diversity of its people and cultures.  We aim to achieve this through equipping our pupils with geographical skills and contextual knowledge of globally significant places and features and how they vary and change over time.  Our intent is to help our pupils to begin to understand their role in the world around them and the impact and changes they can have and make on it.

We deliver a curriculum that:

  • Inspires children’s curiosity to know more about the world around them.
  • Provokes thoughts and questions that encourage children to investigate and discover answers of their own about the world they live in and their impact on it.
  • Equips children with geographical skills to develop their knowledge through studying places, people, natural and human environments.
  • Deepens pupils’ understanding of the Earth’s human and physical forms and processes.
  • Develops pupils’ knowledge of the world and their place in it.
  • Develops children’s vocabulary, map skills and knowledge of relevant geographical facts.

Implementation

The Geography Programme of Study provided by the National Curriculum sets out the following subject content.

Pupils should be taught about:

  • Similarities and differences between themselves, others, among families, communities and traditions.
  • Similarities and differences in relation to places, objects, materials and living things. Pupils can talk about the features of their own immediate environment and how environments might vary from one another.
  • The names and location of the world’s seven continents and five oceans.
  • The location and identity characteristics of the four countries and capital cities of the United Kingdom and its surrounding seas.
  • Geographical similarities and differences through studying the human and physical geography of a small area of the United Kingdom, and of a small area in a contrasting non-European country.
  • The ability to Identify seasonal and daily weather patterns in the United Kingdom and the location of hot and cold areas of the world in relation to the Equator and the North and South Poles.
  • The use of simple geographical vocabulary to refer to:
                   
    physical features including – beach, cliff, coast, forest, hill, mountain, sea, ocean, river, soil, valley, vegetation, season and weather.

          Human features including – city, town, village, factory, farm, house, office, port, harbour and shop.          

The Geography Programme of Study also sets out the following skills that should be developed:

  • Use of world maps, atlases and globes to identify the United Kingdom and its countries, as well as the continents and oceans studied at this key stage;
  • use simple compass directions (North, South, East and West) and locational and directional language [for example, near and far; left and right], to describe the location of features and routes on a map;
  • use aerial photographs and plan perspectives to recognise landmarks and basic human and physical features; devise a simple map; and use and construct basic symbols in a key;
  • Use simple fieldwork and observational skills to study the geography of their school and its grounds and the key human and physical features of its surrounding environment.

In order to achieve this, LIS has broken down the programme of study to ensure both progression and coverage across FS2 and Key Stage 1, and developed a teaching, learning and sequencing of the curriculum as follows: 

  • The geography progression of skills is organised into four main themes: Locational Knowledge: Geographical Skills and Fieldwork; Place Knowledge; and Environmental, Human and Physical Geography.
  • Each theme will be taught explicitly through exciting topics, including links to other areas of the curriculum
  • Fieldwork allowing children to explore the local area.
  • A teaching sequence which builds on knowledge and skills across each year group and across the school.
  • Continuous CPD for teachers to ensure their skills and knowledge is developed to teach the skills confidently and accurately

Impact

  • Continued training and support for teachers ensuring they are the experts in the subjects that they teach.
  • There will be a clear progression of skills across FS2 and Key Stage 1 which builds on prior knowledge that can be demonstrated through learning evidence
  • Our children will be confident in geographical knowledge and skills that is age appropriate. They will be able to clearly discuss the main geographical features of the planet and discuss the similarities and differences between people and cultures.

Please click here to see our Progression Map for Geography


Where in the World?