Geography

Subject Overview: Geography

Curriculum aims:

To develop contextual knowledge of the location of globally significant places – both terrestrial and marine – including their defining physical and human characteristics and how these provide a geographical context for understanding the actions of processes.

To understand the processes that give rise to key physical and human geographical features of the world, how these are interdependent and how they bring about spatial variation and change over time.

To ensure children are competent in the geographical skills needed to:

• collect, analyse and communicate with a range of data gathered through experiences of fieldwork that deepen their understanding of geographical processes

• interpret a range of sources of geographical information, including maps, diagrams, globes, aerial photographs and Geographical Information Systems (GIS)

• communicate geographical information in a variety of ways, including through maps, numerical and quantitative skills and writing at length

Our pedological approach to teaching this subject in the Robert Piggott CE Schools:

Our aim:

By linking geography to our topics, we aim for children to develop a genuine interest in the world around them and for them to develop an enquiring mind.

Children are encouraged to ask questions and to use a range of different sources to find answers to their questions. They are encouraged to develop their geographical skills and understanding through classroom enquiry and fieldwork. The local area and outside environment are used whenever possible to provide real-life learning experiences and to enable fieldwork skills to be developed.

In Key Stage One we begin by looking at the school and local area and then move towards learning about the United Kingdom.

In Key Stage Two we learn about Europe and we also learn about different types of settlements and why people settled where they did.

Comparisons are made between the UK and both a European country and a non-European country. Map work is a key feature of our learning throughout Key Stage Two and includes us identifying where different environmental regions are located and why.

Human and physical features of locations are studied across both Key Stages and we aim to develop geographical language throughout the topics we study.