At Horniman School we enable pupils to become first-rate geographers through the development of the children’s geographical knowledge, understanding and skills. We develop this through the use of geographical sources, observations, understanding about diverse places, people and natural and human environments. As pupils progress, they will gain a deeper awareness of the Earth’s key physical and human processes. Our teaching will equip pupils to build upon their curiosity and fascination about the world and its people. Children gain the geographical skills of identifying locations, human and physical features and developing locational and place knowledge.

EYFS

In Reception we believe that geographers should:

• know about similarities and differences between where they live and places they have visited and between different families and communities.
• talk about the features of their own immediate environment and how environments might vary from one another

In reception this is taught throughout all topics.

In Key Stage 1 we believe geographers should:

• understand the physical and human characteristics of where they live
• use geographical vocabulary
• identify similarities and differences between places
• use geographical information, such as maps, atlases, aerial photos, digital maps and globes to find out about locations
• describe location using directional language and compasses
• communicate geographical information through creating maps, drawings, tables and charts
• collect and analyse data gathered through fieldwork

We teach this through the topics of:

• Weather
• Seaside holidays
• Spain
• Kenya

Key Stage 1

Knowledge, opportunities and contexts

Locational knowledge

Y1 – Weather, Seaside

• name, locate and identify characteristics of the 4 countries and capital cities of the United Kingdom and surrounding seas

Y2 - Kenya, Bread from around the world

• name and locate the world’s 7 continents and 5 oceans

Place knowledge

Y1 –Spain seaside holidays

Y2 –A village in Kenya/Forest Hill

• 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

Human and physical geography

Y1 – Weather, Spain seaside holidays

Y2 – A village in Kenya/Forest Hill

• 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, including: beach, cliff, coast, forest, hill, mountain, sea, ocean, river, soil, valley, vegetation, season and weather
• key human features, including: city, town, village, factory, farm, house, office, port, harbour and shop

In Key Stage 2 we believe geographers should gain the following skills:

• understand the physical and human characteristics of contrasting locations around the world
• describe and understand aspects of physical geography and how they change over time
• describe and understand aspects of human geography and how they change over time
• use geographical vocabulary
• identify similarities and differences between places
• use geographical information, such as maps, atlases, aerial photos, digital maps and globes to find out about locations and place studied
• describe location using compasses, grid references, symbols and keys
• communicate geographical information through creating maps, drawings, tables and charts
• collect and analyse data on human and physical features gathered through fieldwork

We teach this through the topics of:

• Volcanoes

· Animals and Living things

· Wonderful World

· Rivers

· Spain

· Brazil

· Fair trade

· Contrasting location

Thinking geographically offers a uniquely powerful way of seeing the world and makes connections between scales, from the local to the global. We need facts in order to think, but we also need concepts to enable us to group bits of information, or facts, together.

The main organising concepts of geography are place, space, environment and scale.

§Space - the location of points, features or regions in absolute and /or relative terms and the relationships, flows and patterns that connect and / or define them. This includes knowledge of locating countries, continents, key physical human and physical features on map, globes and aerial photographs.

§Place – what it is like there, what happens there and how and why it is changing. This involves looking at human and physical features, how they change over time, and comparing and contrasting different localities.

§Environment – describing and understanding key geographical features of physical and human geography, using geographical vocabulary. For example, weather patterns, volcanoes, water cycle, land use, types of settlement etc.

§Scale - the 'zoom lens' that enables us to view places from global to local levels.

A local scale study is the area in which people live their everyday lives. This will be the school grounds and the local area. In contrast, a geographical region is generally a large area of land with distinguishing geographical, ecological, cultural or political characteristics that set it apart from other areas and may exist within one country or be spread over several.

Fieldwork