Geography
Our Statement of Intent
As geographers at Stanford Primary School, the children will develop a curiosity and fascination about the world around them and the people in our diverse community. We provide an engaging, creative and holistic geography curriculum, with geography at the forefront of many cross-curricular learning journeys, enabling children to develop the knowledge, understanding and skills that will continue throughout their lives.
Our curriculum develops children’s contextual knowledge of the location of globally significant places, including their defining physical and human characteristics, and explores the geographical processes that shape them. Children will develop an understanding of the interdependence of physical and human geographical features within relevant contexts, extending their knowledge beyond the local area to include the United Kingdom, Europe, North and South America and other global locations. Through topic work, children will explore and compare a range of the world’s most significant human and physical features, developing an understanding of how places and people are connected.
In EYFS, children begin to develop an understanding of the world through exploring their immediate and local environment. This knowledge is then built upon throughout KS1 as children consider their place within the wider community and make comparisons with different locations around the world. Children will collect, analyse and communicate geographical data through fieldwork experiences that deepen their understanding of geographical processes, while interpreting a range of geographical information, including maps, diagrams, globes, aerial photographs and Geographical Information Systems (GIS).
They will communicate their geographical understanding in a variety of ways, including through maps, numerical and quantitative skills and extended writing. We bring geography to life through a variety of school trips, first-hand fieldwork experiences, handling artefacts and exposure to a range of geographical resources, while encouraging home and community links that value children’s own experiences, cultures and perspectives. Throughout the school, we strive to develop children’s sense of care and responsibility for the world and its diverse communities, enabling them to become informed and thoughtful global citizens.
Ultimately, we want children to leave Stanford Primary School asking geographical questions about the world, with an increasing thirst to discover more about it.
Understanding the World - Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage EYFS 2021
Understanding the world involves guiding children to make sense of their physical world and their community. The frequency and range of children’s personal experiences increases their knowledge and sense of the world around them – from visiting parks, libraries and museums to meeting important members of society such as police officers, nurses and firefighters. In addition, listening to a broad selection of stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems will foster their understanding of our culturally, socially, technologically and ecologically diverse world. As well as building important knowledge, this extends their familiarity with words that support understanding across domains. Enriching and widening children’s vocabulary will support later reading comprehension.
Purpose of Study – National Curriculum 2014
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. Teaching should equip pupils with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes. As pupils progress, their growing knowledge about the world should help them to deepen their understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes, and of the formation and use of landscapes and environments. Geographical knowledge, understanding and skills provide the frameworks and approaches that explain how the Earth’s features at different scales are shaped, interconnected and change over time.