Calendar Dates
- Bank Holiday School Closed 6th May 2024
- KS2 (Y6) SATS week 13th May 2024
- KS2 (Y6) SATS week 14th May 2024
Geography
Key Staff
Coordinator: Miss Cooper
Governor: Mr Bowes
St Francis' Geography Curriculum
As Geographers in St Francis’ we show that we understand and can identify the human and physical features of where we live and explain how our local area and our country is different to others. Through Geography enquiry, we are able to explore how other countries are the same/different and give reasons for these. We aim to ensure that our learning of the world, helps us to appreciate the world we live in, understand cultures and beliefs can be different and how our world is diverse.
In schools, the teaching of geography gives pupils an understanding of the world around them, its environments, places near and far, and the processes that create and affect them. Former US president Barack Obama commented: 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.
With such responsibility, the centrality of geography in school curriculums should be commonplace. Indeed, geography has had a statutory place in the national curriculum since its inception, and its place in primary education can be traced back to the 19th century. However, despite having its roots in classical times, there are many definitions of the discipline. In the United Kingdom, the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education has set out geography as: [the] integrated study of the complex reciprocal relationships between human societies and the physical, chemical and biological components of the Earth. Geographers study place, space and time, recognising the great differences and dynamics in cultures, political systems, economies, landscapes and environments across the world, and the links between them. (Research Review Series: Geography, June 2021.
St Francis' Geography Curriculum Vision
Pupils are encouraged to foster a natural curiosity about the world, its people and natural phenomenon. As global citizens they will examine key human and physical processes, to develop their understanding of the Earth’s features and how they change over time. They will explore similarities and differences between geographical areas of the World, using appropriate geographical terminology to explore and explain.
The National Curriculum states 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.
St Francis' Geography Curriculum
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| Geography skills and fieldwork are embedded throughout all topics taught in KS2 | |||
Our curriculum consists of four key areas:
I understand locational knowledge
I understand place knowledge
I understand human and physical geography
I understand geographical skills and fieldwork.
Teachers share formative and summative assessment information with each other allowing the year group planning to be adapted annually. This ensures that the cohort of children know more and remember more and have mastered and refined their skills. Teachers plan a sequence of lessons using the St Francis' Geography Curriculum to focus on the knowledge and skills being taught. This includes an ongoing process of reflection, self-evaluation, peer assessments and adult assessments infiltrated through each session to ensure progress is maintained.
In year 3 and year 4, we have an understanding as to how our country’s climate, land use, human/physical features are different to Egypt, Greece and Italy. Through fieldwork studies of the local area, children develop an understanding of their local environment and how to keep ourselves safe.
In year 5 and year 6, we understand how natural resources are made and used, with a further opportunity to explore the changes we can make to protect and care for our world. We have an understanding of historical explorations that have been made and how different materials are used to aid exploration, with suggested reasons for how and why these changes have been made. Through fieldwork studies using digital materials, children have a greater understanding of how the world outside of the UK is different and why.
As Geographers, all children are able to use map reading skills with four and six figure grid references showing an understanding that this skill is useful for children to explore the world they live in but to ensure that they are able to use these skills for their own safety. Map reading is embedded throughout the Geography curriculum, using both physical maps and digital maps. Through all of the above and educational experiences and artefacts brought into school, we ensure that children can develop questioning and understanding of different topics and ideas. This ensures they are ready for the year 7 Curriculum. The knowledge and skills we want children to know are set out below:
Key Skills: I can…
| GEO 1 Geographical Knowledge | The child can describe where the UK is located, and name and locate some major urban areas; locate where they live in the UK using locational terminology (north, south, east, west) and the names of nearby counties. The child can locate and describe some human and physical characteristics of the UK. | The child can locate and describe several physical environments in the UK, e.g. coastal and mountain environments, and how they change. The child can locate the UK's major urban areas, knowing some of their distinct characteristics and how some of these have changed over time. The child can recognise broad land-use patterns of the UK. | ||
GEO 2 Geographical Knowledge
| The child can locate some countries in Europe and North and South America on a map or atlas. The child can relate continent, country, state, city. Identify states in North America using a map. | The child can locate cities, countries and regions of Europe and North and South America on physical and political maps. The child can describe key physical and human characteristics and environmental regions of Europe and North and South America. | |||
GEO 3 Geographical Knowledge
| The child can identify the position of the Prime/Greenwich Meridian and understand the significance of latitude and longitude. | The child can locate places studied in relation to the Equator, the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, latitude and longitude, and relate this to their time zone, climate, seasons and vegetation. | |||
GEO 4 Human and Physical Geography | The child can indicate tropical, temperate and polar climate zones on a globe or map and describe the characteristics of these zones using appropriate vocabulary. | The child can understand how climate and vegetation are connected in biomes, e.g. the tropical rainforest and the desert. The child can describe what the climate of a region is like and how plants and animals are adapted to it. The child can understand how food production is influenced by climate. | |||
GEO 5 Human and Physical Geography | The child can use simple geographical vocabulary to describe significant physical features and talk about how they change. The child can describe a river and mountain environment in the UK, using appropriate geographical vocabulary. The child can describe the water cycle in sequence, using appropriate vocabulary, and name some of the processes associated with rivers and mountains. | The child can describe and understand a range of key physical processes and the resulting landscape features. The child can understand how a mountain region was formed. | |||
GEO 6 Human and Physical Geography | The child can identify and sequence a range of settlement sizes from a village to a city. The child can describe the characteristics of settlements with different functions, e.g. coastal towns. The child can use appropriate vocabulary to describe the main land uses within urban areas and identify the key characteristics of rural areas. | The child can know and understand what life is like in cities and in villages and in a range of settlement sizes. The child can understand that products we use are imported as well as locally produced. The child can explain how the types of industry in the area have changed over time. The child can understand where our energy and natural resources come from. | |||
GEO 7 Human and Physical Geography | The child can understand the physical and human geography of the UK and its contrasting human and physical environments. The child can explain why some regions are different from others. | The child can understand how a region has changed and how it is different from another region of the UK. | |||
GEO 8 Human and Physical Geography | The child can describe and compare similarities and differences between some regions in Europe and North or South America. The child can understand how the human and physical characteristics of one region in Europe and North or South America are connected and make it special. | The child can know information about a region of Europe and North or South America, its physical environment and climate, and economic activity. | |||
GEO 9 Human and Physical Geography | The child can understand how physical processes can cause hazards to people. The child can describe some advantages and disadvantages of living in hazard-prone areas. | The child can explain some ways biomes (including the oceans) are valuable, why they are under threat and how they can be protected. The child can understand how human activity is influenced by climate and weather. The child can understand hazards from physical environments and their management, such as avalanches in mountain regions. The child can explain several threats to wildlife/habitats. | |||
GEO 10 Geographical Skills and Fieldwork
| The child can use a map or atlas to locate some countries and cities in Europe or North and South America. The child can use a map to locate some states of the USA. The child can use an atlas to locate the UK and locate some major urban areas, and locate where they live in the UK. | The child can use physical and political maps to describe key physical and human characteristics of regions of Europe or North and South America. The child can use globes and atlases to locate places studied in relation to the Equator, latitude and longitude and time zones. The child can use thematic maps for specific purposes. | |||
GEO 11 Geographical Skills and Fieldwork
| The child can use four-figure grid references. The child can give direction instructions up to eight compass points. The child can adeptly use large-scale maps outside. | The child can use four- and find six-figure grid references. The child can describe height and slope from a map. The child can read and compare map scales. | |||
GEO 12 Geographical Skills and Fieldwork
| The child can make a map of a short route with features in the correct order and in the correct places. The child can make a simple scale plan of a room. The child can present information gathered in fieldwork using simple graphs. The child can use the zoom function of a digital map to locate places. | The child can make sketch maps of areas using symbols, a key and a scale. The child can use digital maps to investigate features of an area. The child can present information gathered in fieldwork using a range of graphs. | |||
GEO 13 Geographical Skills and Fieldwork
| The child can, in a group, carry out fieldwork in the local area selecting appropriate techniques. What, with what? Where? Equipment? The Burn? | The child can plan and carry out a fieldwork investigation in an urban area and/or a rural area using appropriate techniques. What, with what? Where? Equipment?
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Educating for Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity
From April 2023, we have a focus on ensuring we have a wide range of perspective in our curriculum so we can educate in a way that is inclusive of the viewpoints of a wide range of protected characteristics. This is a long term journey and we are starting by ensuring the identity of individuals studies is explicitly taught.
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