Geography

“The whole world of life is coming to terms with yourself and the natural world. Why are you here? How do you fit in? What’s it all about?”

Why we teach your child geography

Our aim is to give children a high-quality geography education to inspire a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives.We want children to develop their awareness of where they live and how is it similar and different to the world beyond them. It is important to us that children gain an extensive base of geography knowledge and vocabulary so that they, as well-informed citizens, can express well-balanced opinions about current issues in society and the environment. What is more, the geographical skills they develop give them distinctive tools with which to successfully navigate and engage with their world. The valuing of personal experience of space and place lies at the heart of our geography curriculum. Overall, it is our aim to foster in our learners a genuine interest in geography, change (locally and globally) and possible futures, which they will take to secondary school and beyond!

What our curriculum looks like

Our geography curriculum is ambitious, and this starts right from Nursery. Using the content from the National Curriculum and the Early Years Framework we have carefully sequenced our geography curriculum so children learn in a logical step by step manner.

In geography we have three big ideas (macro concepts) and our curriculum is sequenced so children’s schemata grows through the connection of new knowledge with previous knowledge.

We have carefully mapped our curriculum, carefully considering some of the following:

How is locational and place knowledge developed?
How are physical and human processes developed?
Is the curriculum planned in accessible step-by-step manner so children can build on previous learning?
Are we enabling children to remember what is most important?
How does our EYFS learning set the foundation for geography?
Is fieldwork intertwined meaningfully throughout the curriculum?

Click here for our Geography curriculum overview

This is underpinned by a medium-term plan which set out the core knowledge and skills children will be learning in their learning.

Each unit of learning begins with a ‘thinking square’, which assesses the existing knowledge and misconceptions children may have against the core knowledge they need to learn. This then supports and informs the teaching of that unit. At the end of each unit, children will revisit this thinking square to build on existing knowledge and apply what they have learnt. Additionally, children will complete a ‘conceptual’ question which challenges them to apply their new learning in a more open geographical context – this supports children to retain what they have learnt.

How we teach geography

As with every subject, we recognise what makes geography unique, and as a result make pedagogical choices to ensure teaching is the best it can possibly be.

We have captured our pedagogical choice for geography in our geography principles which can be seen below:

Principles of Teaching and Learning for Geography

How you can help your child at home

EYFS and Key Stage 1

Encourage your child to observe the world around them. On a walk talk about how some houses and buildings look older than others.
Talk about your route to school or the shops. What do you see on the way? Can you draw what you see? Can you draw a simple may?
Look at a map of the UK- where you do live? Have you lived anywhere else?
Attend a community day at Sayers Croft Urban Nature Space at Paddington Rec
Visit Regents Park and compare it to your local area. How does it look different to Queen’s Park? How are the sounds that you can hear different to the sounds in your local area?

Key Stage 2

Visit the National Geographic Kids for the most amazing videos and facts about our wonderful world, along with fun competitions, games and more!
The Ordnance Survey Mapzone is full of lively online activities and games that children can play, which also develop their map skills and knowledge.
Attend a community day at Sayers Croft Urban Nature Space at Paddington Rec
Explore the wild park of woodland and meadows of Hampstead Heath. Why not fly a kite from the top of Parliament Hill?
Visit the Natural History Museum and explore the Volcanoes and Earthquakes section. Be sure to check out the earthquake simulator, showing what it was like during the 1995 Kobe, Japan earthquake

Learning