Geography

"A high-quality geography education should inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives." (The National Curriculum 2014)
 
At St Chad's, we feel that it is important to nurture and encourage children's natural curiosity so they become inquisitive, questioning learners who look closely at the world around them and begin to be able to interpret what they see. Geography is taught as a cross-curricular approach as part of our theme work. We use real places and real experiences as far as practically possible to make geography come alive for our children. Opportunities are provided for the children to learn from a range of sources of evidence, such as: books, maps, pictures, photographs, oral sources and geographical equipment. ICT links are encouraged and explored to enhance the children's learning. Educational visits and visitors are also promoted and organised where appropriate for enrichment opportunities linking to themes covered.
 

We also aim to instil a sense of environmental responsibility in our children and encourage them to understand environmental issues at a local and global level. Through our geography work, we want to motivate and inspire our children to find out about their world, both physical and human, so that they can take an active part in contributing to and protecting this world as they grow up.

 
The Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum (Nursery/Reception) and the Key Stage 1 National Curriculum (Year 1/Year 2) provides us with a basis of the skills and techniques that our children will learn throughout their time at St Chad's.
 
During the Early Years Foundation Stage, children begin to gain a wider experience of the world around them. Chidlren learn through first-hand experiences to explore, observe, problem solve, predict, think critically, make decisions and talk about the creatures, people, plants and objects in their natural environments.
 
Across Key Stage 1, children are taught:
 
Locational knowledge
  • name and locate the world's 7 continents and 5 oceans
  • name, locate and identify characteristics of the 4 countries and capital cities of the United Kingdom and its surrounding seas
Place knowledge
  • understand geographical similarities and difference 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
Human and physical geography
  • 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
  • use basic geographical vocabulary to refer to:
    • key physical features, including: beach, cliff, coast, forest, hill, mountain sea, ocean, river, soil, valley, vegetation, season and weather
    • key human features, including: city, town, village, factory, farm, house, office, port, harbour and shop

Geographical skills and fieldwork

  • use world maps, atlases and globes to identify the United Kingdom and its countries, 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
 A copy of our curriculum progression map for Geography can be found below. 
Useful websites: