Geography

The vision of our Geography curriculum is to develop the children’s curiosity and fascination about the world and its people, that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. Children investigate a range of diverse places, peoples, resources, physical and human environments – in our local area, Britain and throughout the world – to help develop their knowledge and understanding of the Earth’s physical and human processes. This investigation will enable them to develop a real sense of who they are, their heritage and what makes our local area unique and special to ensure breadth, balance, continuity and progression. In class learning is supported by memorable external learning opportunities, for example, trips to the immediate locality (including the beach, Hengistbury Head and the New Forest) and further afield with residentials at Leeson House and Avon Tyrell. Critical thinking will be encouraged when considering local and global geographical issues and they will be encouraged to communicate their knowledge in a variety of ways.

The Geography curriculum is split into overarching themes and skills that progress through the school. In reception a concept is investigated in a very local and accessible way for our 4 year old children (making maps of the class room and seeing what different areas there are) to land use maps in Upper KS2 showing how land in our town and county is used for different purposes.

Geography Trips and Visits in 2023 

This year our children have been very lucky to have some external opportunities to enhance their learning in Geography. Our Ducklings went to Longdown Activity Farm to learn about a farm and look at how different animals live and what they eat. Year 5’s residential to Leeson house saw them looking at land use, coastal features and the underlying geology that affects our local landscape. They looked at local animals and adaptations to their habitats alongside learning about how the area is conserved for its wildlife value. During an orienteering session, they put their map skills to good use. Finally, our Year 6 children walked to Hengistbury Head to study the land features and the work of humans and nature on a local environment, specifically the coastline. 

The 7 key Geographical skills and knowledge explored in Reception are revisited in each Year group. These are:

• Map skills – are the children able draw plans and maps; can they use and interpret maps atlases, globes and aerial pictures?
• Place and location – do children know the different land and sea masses of the world and do they know what the similarities and differences are?
• Directional skills – can they use directional language to explain location?
• Weather and seasons – do they know the different weather and seasons and how these are different around the globe; are they aware of how this impacts on the physical geography and on the people living in a region?
• Observation, fieldwork and measuring skills – are children able to observe changes over time and record these in different ways.
• Land use and settlements – can children say how and why areas are used for different purposes based on the physical geography and needs of the peoples living there
• Human and physical features – can they talk about how humans have an impact on the environment using specific geographical vocabulary.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” John 3: 16-17