Geography

‘Geography teaching should equip pupils with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes.’ [National Curriculum]

At Gray’s Farm, our Geography curriculum has been designed to develop our children’s curiosity and fascination about the world, and its people, that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. We want our children to understand where they fit within the world whilst drawing comparisons between their own local environment and traditions with people and places from around the world. As well as developing their locational knowledge, our geography curriculum provides opportunities each year for the children to expand their knowledge and understanding of the Earth’s physical and human processes; whilst encouraging them to draw their own conclusions by interpreting data from a range of sources of geographical information.

Our geography curriculum is progressive; building on skills and knowledge throughout the year and as the children move up through the school; enabling our children to make connections and build upon their previous learning. To facilitate this progression, our geography curriculum has been grouped into three overarching units:

1] In the Autumn Term:  Where on Earth are we?

Teaching in this unit concentrates on enhancing geographical skills and developing an understanding of where we fit within the local environment, the UK and beyond. As the children move throughout KS2, they consider  the latitude and longitude coordinate system to determine and describe the location of given places and the impact this has on a country's climate, biomes, land-use and time zones.
 

2] In the Spring Term: What a Wonderful World!

Throughout this unit, the children explore people and places: comparing geographical similarities and differences (human and physical) of The UK and other countries from a different continent.

3] In the Summer Term: The Natural World

This unit focuses on describing and understanding key aspects of physical geography. The children are encouraged to use their geographical skills to consider how natural, physical geography can bring about spatial variation and change over time. They will consider the impact of such changes to surrounding communities and the role they need to play as a responsible citizen to sustain our planet.

An overview detailing our geography coverage for each year group from Nursery to Year 6 can be found here: 

Each topic has a key question that the children will attempt to answer throughout the term using a range of geographical sources. Low-stake quizzes are completed by all children at the beginning and end of a topic to monitor progress, along with a rigorous monitoring cycle involving pupil voice, work scrutinies and monitoring of the learning environment across all year groups to inform future planning.

For each year group, we have created a Child Friendly Subject Knowledge Organiser to help you support your child at home.

These subject knowledge organisers detail

-          The question that your child is exploring and attempting to answer;

-          Some background information and key facts linked to their topic;

-          Key vocabulary that they need to know to enhance their understanding within this unit.

We hope that you will find these useful in understanding what your child will be learning in geography this term and when supporting your child at home.