"The study of geography is about more than just memorizing places on a map. It's about understanding the complexity of our world, appreciating the diversity of cultures that exists across continents. And in the end, it's about using all that knowledge to help bridge divides and bring people together."
Through our teaching of geography, we aim to inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people.
We believe it is important to provide our children with the opportunities to use a range of investigative and problem-solving skills, both in and outside the classroom. Our pupils learn about diverse places, people, resources and environments, including with a deepening understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human features.
As with history, geography is taught within a topic rather than discretely. Additionally, geography is included within literacy by studying texts from other cultures and countries and numeracy. Our theme weeks have included geography-art links.
In KS1 the children learn about the United Kingdom and their immediate locality. Through the topics Home Sweet Home, children learn about the different styles of homes that people live in. In Eye on London they look at famous landmarks and their capital city.
All of the topics involve map work, both reading maps and the children creating their own and addressing misconceptions of their view of the countries of the world and where they are.
In lower KS2 the topics are What Lies Beneath Us? Where children learn about the ground beneath their feet, and they explore further afield to learn about volcanoes, earthquakes and tsunamis. Although Dig for Victory is predominantly about WW2 with a history focus, the children begin to learn how and why places change and the influences that cause these changes. Footsteps Around the World takes children on a journey across the continents finding out about exploration and how places differ from their own. Finally, Horrible Histories shows children how landscapes change over time and how previous civilisations have left a legacy which impacts on our geography today.
Upper KS2 look at the Ancient Egyptians, learning about the pyramids and the importance of the river Nile to the area. They then move on to Rainforests, investigating the flora and fauna and the problems faced in these regions. Amazing Africa incorporates studies of an area that is less economically developed, the landscape, the climate and animals that live there.