Geography Curriculum Information
As geographers, our children at Icklesham Church of England Primary School and Nursery will gain a depth and breadth of knowledge and understanding of the world, its environments and places both near and far, and the processes that create and affect them both human and physical. Our geography curriculum encourages children to appreciate and understand how the world works and the interconnections between communities and cultures as well as allowing them to consider how they can themselves be respectful, sensitive and accepting of the world.
We believe children are active participants and investigators within geography and value fieldwork as an essential part of the curriculum allowing them to explore, make connections and comparisons and identify patterns and changes. Geographical enquiry and skills are embedded throughout teaching to ensure skills are transferable and progressive. Our curriculum allows our children exposure to experiences they wouldn’t otherwise have access to in order to gain a greater understanding of the wider world through the use of primary sources such as field work and secondary sources such as digital and physical maps, atlases, globes photographs and books.
Pupils in the Early Years Foundation Stage will learn:
About Understanding the World
- People and Communities: Talk about past and present events in their own lives and in the lives of family members. They know that other children don’t always enjoy the same things, and are sensitive to this. They know about similarities and differences between themselves and others, and among families, communities and traditions.
- The World: Know about similarities and differences in relation to places, objects, materials and living things. They talk about the features of their own immediate environment and how environments might vary from one another. They make observations of animals and plants and explain why some things occur, and talk about changes.
Pupils in Key Stage 1 will:
- Study their school, grounds and local area and contrast with another area in the United Kingdom and abroad, finding out about the physical features of the area and the people who live there using fieldwork and photographs
- Learn about and locate the main countries and cities within the United Kingdom and the seas surrounding, using maps, atlases and globes, as well as identify and locate the main continents and oceans around the world
- Carry out geographical enquiry inside and outside the classroom, observing and recording weather and identifying seasonal changes in the United Kingdom
- Be introduced to geographical vocabulary to refer to human and physical features of the environment
Pupils in Key Stage 2 will:
- Investigate, compare and contrast a variety of people, places and environments in the United Kingdom and around the world using photographs, maps, atlas’ and globes
- Discover how and why the earth is changing and how this affects them and future generations
- Identify and locate European countries and countries in North and South America, counties and cities within the United Kingdom and the significance of longitude, latitude and time zones
- Carry out geographical enquiry inside and outside the classroom, asking questions and using maps, atlas, globes and compasses linking to computing and other areas of the curriculum
We develop our Medium Term Plans, making links with other subjects wherever possible, including: Art, Music, Science, RE, English, Maths and History as part of our Curious Curriculum. Resources such as Cornerstones Curriculum Maestro are used where appropriate. Long-term plans identify individual geographical units taught across the year group phases and the key skills developed in each unit. A planned progression of skills means that the children are increasingly challenged as they move through the school. This is supported by a wide range of high quality resources such as local modern and historical maps.
We believe educational visits help to promote learning in all aspects of geography and we aim to incorporate it in all areas of the curriculum. In particular, children study at depth our local area allowing regular opportunities to explore the area they live and learn in. Our curriculum is designed so that we can make full use of geographical places of interest in our local area, including the coastline that we are situated on.
Pupils work in mixed ability groups following our co-operative learning approach and to promote oracy, and a variety of teaching approaches such as whole-class lessons, group, paired and individual work and discussions are experienced by pupil’s during their geography lessons. Curriculum leaders have personalised the National Curriculum to ensure children will know more and remember more by making links between subjects and year groups which deepen their learning. Geography, wherever possible, links with with our termly themes and meets the needs of our children to provide knowledge of our local area as well as ensuring coverage of a diverse range of countries, landscapes and cultures