Geography
Our Intent
We aim to develop children’s awareness of the world they live in starting with the location of their own home and country then expanding this to other countries, continents and oceans. We aim to encourage an appreciation of diversity and difference as the children compare their own environments, cultures and communities with very contrasting ones around the world. One of our major focuses is on the environment. We intend to inspire an appreciation and responsibility for the environment as well as an awareness of the environment. Being aware of environmental and climatic changes, patterns and concerns is a focus as the children progress through school. We aim to educate the children about current projects to protect the environment and teach them about the simple steps they can take to help in their own communities.
Implementation
The table below shows which areas of the Geography curriculum will be covered in each year group. The colours demonstrate where different strands of learning are developed upon and how we build on past knowledge each year.
Spring Term – Geography - EXPLORE | |||||||
| EYFS | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | Year 6 |
Topic Titles | Barnaby Bear | Around the world | Living locally | Extreme Earth | Rainforest | Water | Land Use |
Concept Questions | Are all bears scary?
| Are we different or the same? Why do people live in extreme places? | Do we appreciate what we have? | Would you live near a volcano? Do we live in a safe place? | What is the value of the rainforest?
| Who owns the sky? Is water a life giver or life taker? | Is our school in the best location? Is it all about location? |
Concept Words | Difference Similarities | Identity Diversity Belonging | Responsibility Stewardships Common Good Pride | Fear Consequences Choice Resilience | Sustainability Consequence Wealth, Value Fairness | Conflict Value, Equality Consequences Sustainability | Transformation Judgement Stewardship Community |
Topics Key Skills | Atlas and globes of the world to see where bears live. Explore seas and continents and how far this is from the UK (North America). Recognise similarities and differences to life in contrasting countries. Compare hot and cold places. Changing Seasons | Continents using globes.
Comparing human and physical features in arctic and desert environments.
Seasons and extreme weather: Deserts (Africa) and the Arctic.
| Local UK study: Compare regions in the UK. Villages, towns, cities, counties. OS maps and keys to compare current and old land use Local weather patterns. | Globes and atlases and OS maps for UK to study: Mountains Volcanoes Earthquakes Hurricanes Tsunamis Place specific comparison study of human and physical features in UK, Europe, N. America. | Atlases and 8 compass points to explore location and features of rainforests. Land use using aerial mapping. Compare climates and biomes in Asia and UK – explore different forests. Trade and natural resources. | Global climatic patterns to explain flooding and drought. OS maps and aerial mapping to show land use. Compare and explore river systems in S America and UK. Trade links and natural resources using rivers.
| Land use study: Understand how topography, climate, vegetation, waterways, transport links, energy, sustainability impact decisions. Use OS maps, digital mapping and graphs to create plans of a new school location. |
Impact
We will assess the impact of our Geography curriculum through formative and summative assessments. We are looking to find out whether children have built upon their learning from previous years and if they have developed their appreciation and understanding of the world. For our formative assessment we will ask children to feedback in lessons, peer review and we will share learning outcomes and expectations. Our summative assessments to measure the impact will include sharing book work, displays and lesson overviews or observations. We will also use questioning with the children to gain an understanding of what they have learnt and how past learning enabled them to tackle each topic.