Geography
The National Curriculum: Geography
Geography is concerned with the study of places, the human interaction and physical processes which shape them and the people who live in them.
“A high quality geography education should inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives.” NC 2014
Children will begin to name and locate the seven continents and five oceans. They will learn to name, locate and identify characteristics of the four countries and capital cities of the UK and its surrounding seas. The children will look at similarities and differences between contrasting localities, using key vocabulary when discussing human and physical geographical features and processes. They will also use a variety of geographical equipment to develop their skills as ‘Geography Detectives’.
Click here for the Long Term Geography Plan
Click here for the Geography Progression and Skills Document
Our vision for geography at Petersfield
At Petersfield Infant School we aim to develop children’s curiosity for both local surroundings and different environments in the wider world. Our purpose is to instil a fascination and desire to observe a variety of natural and manmade characteristics of locations, both local and afar.
Geography is an important subject and fully inclusive. We are all an equal part of the world and we strive for children to realise this whilst developing an appreciation for the local environment. Geography field work skills and outdoor learning go hand in hand. By being involved in the local environment children develop a sense of belonging and start to fully respect to the local area.
Geography is taught through enquiry based learning where children are encouraged to start their learning by thinking about an answer to a question. As the line of enquiry develops we provide children with the opportunity to develop a range of geographical skills and knowledge, such as map reading, map drawing, observation and fieldwork skills. As the children begin to obtain new knowledge they start to develop their own questions about a topic which they have opportunities to investigate.
We take advantage of our immediate environment by exploring the local community. We start with our school and its grounds, before venturing out into Petersfield town and later trips further afield to Queen Elizabeth Country Park. This gives the children an appreciation of where they are now and how they can use real life observations to put geography learning into context.
This compares and contrasts with our study of other parts of the world. Children will learn about diversity by being part of a school twinning project with a school in Uganda. Children will have the opportunity to connect and communicate with children across the world. The aim of the project is for children to both share their knowledge of the geography in Petersfield and learn about the geography from children living on another continent, through communicating and developing a relationship. By using the skills they developed from their local study these can be applied to understand the geographic similarities and differences out there.
