‘You can travel the seas, poles and deserts and see nothing. To really understand the world, you need to get under the skin of the people and places. In other words, learn about geography. I can’t imagine a subject more relevant in schools.’
Michael Palin.
At John Scurr, our geography curriculum gives children the knowledge and skills to make sense of the world around them. It ensures they leave us with a secure understanding of where places are found, what they are like and the relationships between people and their environments. Our geography curriculum inspires curiosity in our children, encouraging them to find out more about the people and places in our world.
At John Scurr, our geography teaching and learning is centred around four threads of geographical knowledge:
- Locational knowledge - where a place is found
- Place knowledge - what a place is like
- Human and physical features - the features that make up our world and whether they are man made or naturally occurring
- Geographical skills and fieldwork - the tools and skills used by geographers to find out about and explain location, place and human and physical features
These threads of knowledge run through our curriculum cumulatively from EYFS - Year 6, with children becoming a little more expert lesson upon lesson and year upon year. They are not taught in isolation, but are interconnected so that pupils use each strand of knowledge to build their overall knowledge of the world in which we live, and their understanding of geography as a discipline.
See below for the structure of our geography curriculum and how these threads of geographical knowledge are woven throughout our curriculum:
What Do We Teach?
Year Group Area of Study:
EYFS:
In our 2yo, nursery and reception settings, we:
- teach children the foundational knowledge they need to develop their geographical understanding
- provide them with opportunities and experiences to build on this foundational knowledge
- continue to build their knowledge and language through structured story times
In order that they are able to:
Past and present:
- Describe their immediate environment using knowledge from observations, discussions, stories, non-fiction texts and maps.
- Explain some similarities, differences between life in this country and life in other countries, drawing on knowledge from stories, non-fiction texts and (when appropriate) maps.
The Natural World:
- Explore the Natural World around them, making observations and drawing pictures of animals and plants.
- Know some similarities and differences between the natural world around them, and contrasting environments, drawing on their experiences and what has been read to them in class.
Year 1:
- Continents and oceans/Countries and Capital Cities of the United Kingdom
- Local area map work skills
Year 2:
- Human and physical geography in the local area
- Comparison of a small part of the UK to a non-European location (Nairobi)
- Map skills and fieldwork
- Comparison of a small part of the UK to a non-European location (Amazon Rainforest)
Year 3:
- Local area study
- UK Study
- OS Map skills and fieldwork
Year 4:
- Rivers
- Latitude and Longitude
- The Water cycle
- Map skills and fieldwork
Year 5:
- World cities, biomes and environmental regions
- 4 and 6 figure map references
- OS Map skills and fieldwork
Year 6:
- Comparison study – UK, Europe and North America
- Physical processes: Earthquakes, mountains and volcanoes
- Settlements
- Maps and orienteering