Geography

At Sir Henry Fermor, we have developed a comprehensive curriculum which aims to equip children with the geographical knowledge, vocabulary and fieldwork skills needed to become globally aware citizens.

Children begin by developing their sense of self and their physical world and place in the community in EYFS through our first topic – All about me. We then continue to develop this through our further topics Celebrations, Flying High (Space) and Environmentally themed Summer Term topics. Through our weekly Forest School sessions, local Library visit trip and opportunities in Play and Learn children develop their skills of observation, finding similarities and differences and early map making. Stories are used daily linked with our topics and activities to support the children’s development of Geographical vocabulary and skills.

From Year 1 in KS1 until Year 6 in KS2, children are taught Geography concurrently using a different topic each term. This enables students to maximize their learning potential by continuing to build new skills and knowledge bases while making schemas within their geography learning and wider curriculum. In KS2 the learning is supported through the use of bespoke booklets containing knowledge rich information and vocabulary.  By ensuring children have the necessary geographical knowledge as well as developing fieldwork skills alongside, children are able to then think like Geographers and answer bigger questions such as ‘Why would people chose to live near a Volcano?’ and ‘Should things in the Amazon change?’

All of the topics in each year group have been chosen to be taught at that particular time to ensure that children are continuously building on knowledge linearly throughout each year group but also building on what was taught during previous year groups as well as preparing them for the years ahead, including into Year 7.

Aims

The national curriculum for geography aims to ensure that all pupils:

• 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 

• 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

• 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.

Further information on the National Curriculum for Geography can be found here.

EYFS playing in the rain and snow, experiencing different weathers.

Year 3 learning about Settlements with an accompanying trip around the local area.