Geography

Geography Lead - Miss E Sabin

 

Geography is a subject packed with excitement and wonder, a subject in which children address challenging issues from across the world and helps them to better understand its people, places and environments. Geography also helps us understand how and why places are changing, and to better imagine, predict and work towards better futures.  The geography curriculum at Laughton All Saints’ has been carefully designed to ensure pupils develop a good understanding of the world around them, as well as inspiring curiosity and fascination. We are keen to equip pupils with the key knowledge about the diverse world we live in, focusing on places, people, resources and different environments. Our curriculum ensures that there are planned opportunities to help pupils deepen their understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes and the use of landscapes and environments. We want our pupils to be well-rounded citizens, understanding the differences between places and cultures and recognising how these change over time. Our curriculum has been crafted to learn about the diversity of our world and respect towards others. We seek to broaden pupils’ real-life experience both inside and outside school through yearly educational visits and fieldwork projects in a variety of locations.  We aim for geography at our school to be creative, engaging and relevant to the pupils’ own lives, experiences and future aspirations.

To find out more about our rationale and intent, please click below:

Geography Subject Rationale

 

"The study of Geography is about more than just memorising places on a map. It’s about understanding the complexity of our world, appreciating the diversity of cultures that exist across continents. And in the end, it’s about using all that knowledge to help bridge divides and bring people together." - Barack Obama (quotation from Ofsted's 'Research Review Series')

 

At Laughton All Saints', we appreciate the empowering nature of Geography and its importance as a subject in its own right, whilst recognising the impact it has on strengthening pupils’ comprehension across other subjects too. Geography plays a significant role in school, helping young pupils to understand their world, their role in it and the responsibilities that come with it.

 

Our Geography curriculum:

We follow the national curriculum for geography. Here is a link to the national curriculum documentation:

Geography Programmes of Study: Key Stages 1 and 2

 

Aims and ambitions for Geography:

Our aim is for all pupils to:

  1. 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
  2. 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
  3. Are competent in the geographical skills needed to: (A) collect, analyse and communicate with a range of data gathered through experiences of fieldwork that deepen their understanding of geographical processes (B) interpret a range of sources of geographical information, including maps, diagrams, globes, aerial photographs and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and (C) communicate geographical information in a variety of ways, including through maps, numerical and quantitative skills and writing at length 

 

What do we expect our children to learn in geography by the end of each key stage?

In early years:

  • Draw information from a simple map.
  • Recognise some similarities and differences between life in this country and life in other countries.
  • Explore the natural world around them.
  • Recognise some environments that are different from the one in which they live.
  • Understand the effect of changing seasons on the natural world around them.

 

Key Stage 1

  • Name and locate the world’s seven continents and five oceans
  • Name, locate and identify characteristics of the four countries and capital cities of the United Kingdom and its surrounding seas
  • Understand geographical similarities and differences through studying the human and physical geography of a small area of the United Kingdom, and of a small area in a contrasting non-European country
  • Identify seasonal and daily weather patterns in the United Kingdom and the location of hot and cold areas of the world in relation to the Equator and the North and South Poles
  • Use basic geographical vocabulary to refer to key physical features and key human features
  • Use world maps, atlases and globes to identify the United Kingdom and its countries, as well as the countries, continents and oceans studied at this key stage
  • Use simple compass directions and locational and directional language, to describe the location of features and routes on a map
  • Use aerial photographs and plan perspectives to recognise landmarks and basic human and physical features; devise a simple map; and use and construct basic symbols in a key
  • Use simple fieldwork and observational skills to study the geography of their school and its grounds and the key human and physical features of its surrounding environment.

 

Key Stage 2

  • Locate the world’s countries, using maps to focus on Europe and North and South America, concentrating on their environmental regions, key physical and human characteristics, countries, and major cities
  • Name and locate counties and cities of the United Kingdom, geographical regions and their identifying human and physical characteristics, key topographical features (including hills, mountains, coasts and rivers), and land-use patterns; and understand how some of these aspects have changed over time
  • Identify the position and significance of latitude, longitude, Equator, Northern Hemisphere, Southern Hemisphere, the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, Arctic and Antarctic Circle, the Prime/Greenwich Meridian and time zones (including day and night)
  • Understand geographical similarities and differences through the study of human and physical geography of a region of the United Kingdom, a region in a European country, and a region within North or South America Human and physical geography 
    Describe and understand key aspects of physical geography, including: climate zones, biomes and vegetation belts, rivers, mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes, and the water cycle
  • Describe and understand key aspects of human geography, including: types of settlement and land use, economic activity including trade links, and the distribution of natural resources including energy, food, minerals and water
  • Use maps, atlases, globes and digital/computer mapping to locate countries and describe features studied
  • Use the eight points of a compass, four and six-figure grid references, symbols and key (including the use of Ordnance Survey maps) to build their knowledge of the United Kingdom and the wider world
  • Use fieldwork to observe, measure, record and present the human and physical features in the local area using a range of methods, including sketch maps, plans and graphs, and digital technologies. 

 

Knowledge in Geography:

Knowledge is broken down into two main types:

  1. Substantive knowledge - sets out the content to be learned. This includes a) locational knowledge, b) place knowledge, c) human and physical processes and d) geographical skills.
  2. Disciplinary knowledge - how geographical knowledge originates and how it changes. It is through disciplinary knowledge that pupils learn the practices of geographers. 

Alongside these, children also develop their geographical skills and fieldwork as they move through school. Geographical skills allow pupils to collect, represent and interpret spatial information and their acquisition is an important dimension of the geography curriculum. This incorporates their map skills, including decoding information from maps and constructing their own maps. Fieldwork allows pupils to encounter geographical concepts first-hand and connect their learning in classrooms with the complexity of the real world. Through observing, collecting data for themselves, analysing it and describing their findings, pupils learn how to observe and record the environment around them. In effect, they have been immersed in relevant thinking and so key geographical knowledge sticks in their memory. 

 

How is Geography taught at Laughton All Saints'?

Please see the following documents which give a flavour of how we craft and plan our curriculum:

Click here to view the overview of our curriculum:  

Geography Overview

Click here to see where key geographical skills are taught throughout our curriculum:

Geography Coverage Overview