Geography
Welcome to our new Geography curriculum. Geography, we believe, can inspire children with a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people which will remain with them for the rest of their lives. Geography is a valued part of the curriculum at Goodrich, as it provides a means of exploring, appreciating and understanding the world in which we live. Children begin with learning about their own locality and features of the environment that affect them and move on to learn about other places and people in the world, making comparisons to their own lives. Through our teaching we aim to expand pupil’s geographical knowledge of people and places to understand the physical, social and economic forces which shape those places and the lifestyles of the people who live there and develop their ability to investigate and ask questions about the world around them. The children learn to use maps to locate cities, countries, mountain ranges, rivers, seas and oceans. They use atlases, photos and the internet to explore the environment and economics of those countries which they study. They then use the skills they have developed in literacy, numeracy and Computing to report and record their findings.
At Goodrich we value providing children with 'hands on' learning experiences in Geography that encourage interest and enhance progress in the subject. For instance in KS1, children will develop their knowledge about the United Kingdom and their own locality. They’ll learn how to use maps, atlases and globes as well as learn simple compass directions. The children will also study seasonal and daily weather patterns in the United Kingdom and look at the hot and cold areas of the world in relation to the equator and the North and South Poles.
In Key Stage 2 the children will look to extend their knowledge to beyond their local area and will study Europe as well as North and South America. They will begin to look at similarities and differences of human geography such as types of settlement and land use. They will also study physical geography elements such as climate zones, rivers, mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes. Children will continue to use maps, atlases and globes and will use the 8 points of the compass in their work. They will start to consider the use of four and six figure grid references and ordinance survey maps. Children will carry out field trips and investigations into environmental activity.
Geography learning is further enriched in school by trips to the seaside in KS1, a workshop on rivers in Year 4 and map reading activities completed by the children on the Year 4 and Year 6 residential trips.
Jake (Year 4) ‘I think the topic on ‘England & India’ is really fun. I now know lots about India. I loved comparing it to England. It is very different (the size, weather) but similar (both have rivers and mountains). I didn’t know that Mount Everest is in the Himalayas!’
Robyn (Year 3) ‘My favourite topic is ‘Our Friends in Europe’. I really like using an atlas to find out what countries are in Europe and their capital. I learnt Paris is the capital of France.’
Geography Overview
