Geography
Aims
The Geography curriculum at Eastwick meets the requirements of the National Curriculum and our school's curriculum ethos. It prepares children to be ‘Ready for Everything’ in their futures in terms of:
- Success in the next stage of their education and beyond: by ensuring children have a diverse knowledge of the world including their locality; by providing a strong focus on geographical knowledge and fieldwork skills so that children think like a geographer; by ensuring children understand how the earth’s features, at different scales, are shaped, interconnected and changed over time.
- their ability to navigate life’s personal Challenge: by developing curious, explorative and critical thinking, with the ability to ask perceptive questions and explain and analyse evidence.
- understanding their place in communities at global, national and local levels and seize the Opportunity of the future: building an awareness of how geography shapes our lives, and encourages pupils to become resourceful, active citizens who will have the skills to contribute to and improve the world around them.
Teaching
- In Reception, pupils are taught elements of geography that prepare them for the Year 1 curriculum.
- Our curriculum in Years 1-6 uses the Kapow Geography scheme of work.
- Knowledge is built progressively throughout Key Stage 1 and 2. Pupils revisit the key knowledge themes (see below) on a cyclical basis. Each time a key knowledge theme is revisited, it is covered with greater complexity, therefore increasing children’s depth of knowledge. Prior knowledge is recalled and utilised so that pupils build on previous foundations.
- Children make use of the school’s extensive grounds and the local area to develop their knowledge through fieldwork.
Key Knowledge Themes:
Locational knowledge
Place knowledge
Human and physical geography
Geographical skills and fieldwork
Units taught (Years 1-6):
Year 1 |
What is it like here? |
What is the weather like in the UK? |
What is it like to live in Shanghai? |
Year 2 |
Would you prefer to live in a hot or cold place? |
Why is our world wonderful? |
What is it like to live by the coast? |
Year 3 |
Why do people live near volcanoes? |
Who lives in Antarctica? |
Are all settlements the same? |
Year 4 |
Why are rainforests important to us? |
Where does our food come from? |
What are rivers and how are they used? |
Year 5 |
What is life like in the Alps? |
Why do oceans matter? |
Would you like to live in the desert? |
Year 6 |
Why does population change? |
Where does our energy come from? |
Can I carry out an independent fieldwork enquiry? |