Geography at Hardwick
Geography is about learning about our world and inspiring children with a curiosity and fascination about its places and people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives.
It gives children the knowledge, skills and understanding of the diverse places, people and resources that make up the natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes and the interaction between them.
Without it they would not be able to make global connections to the world’s people, cultures, economics and environments. It's essential to their understanding of our interconnected world.
It feeds into our school’s curriculum intent by providing children with first hand experiences within a vocabulary rich curriculum that provides many opportunities for them to talk and discuss both local and world events/circumstances. It is taught in a way that gives children the chance to be critical and question what they see around them through a clear progression of learning that is inclusive for all children within the school.
Geography is taught across the whole school from the very youngest children in our Nursery to those in Year 6. Our curriculum ensures that children progressively learn new knowledge and skills so that they become natural enquirers about the world around them.
Our curriculum ensures that our children:
- Develop knowledge of the location of globally significant places including their defining physical and human characteristics.
- Understand how physical and human processes are interdependent and change over time.
- Are competent in the geographical skills needed to:
o interpret a range of sources of geographical information, including maps, diagrams, globes, aerial photographs and Geographical Information Systems (GIS)
o communicate geographical information in a variety of ways
In addition, children are given regular opportunities to partake in fieldwork so that they gain first hand experiences to apply their knowledge and skills in order to develop a good geographical understanding. Some of the places that children visit are the local area, the seaside, wooded areas, a reservoir, a national park and many more.
As children progress across school they learn more and more about the world around them from knowing the world oceans and continents in KS1 to knowing the capital cities, rivers and mountains of different countries and how people and places are similar and different in KS2. Geography is also closely linked to many other areas of the curriculum and is used as part of many other lessons such as those where children learn about a certain civilisation and how and why it changed.
Please see below our curriculum progression grid for Geography, detailing how our children progress through knowledge and skills from Nursery to Year 6:
Useful Websites
https://www.natgeokids.com/uk/ - a great website where children can read about all sorts of things from around the world, including a kids club area.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround - a daily news programme created with children in mind that tells them about important events and other interesting stories.
http://www.crickweb.co.uk/ks1science.html#watercycle – lots of useful interactive ideas for learning about both Geography and Science
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zcdqxnb - KS1 bite size Geography
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zbkw2hv - KS2 bite size Geography
https://www.kids-world-travel-guide.com/geography-for-kids.html - general site full of fun facts about the world
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6DSMZ8b3LE - Learn the continents