Why do we learn geography?
Our approach
Curriculum Overview
Reception
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Year 5
Year 6

Why do we learn geography?

At Ayrton we believe a successful primary geographer:

  • has high expectations of themselves and always demonstrates our values is inspired to be curious about the world and its people
  • has a secure sense of the world in which they live - the ways people influence and are influenced by that world, and the challenges it also brings
  • has a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human features as well as physical processes
  • a secure knowledge of diverse places and people, natural and human environments
  • confidently uses maps, graphs, and photographs to analyse and describe geographical features and processes
  • develops their range of fieldwork techniques through research of the local area and further afield
  • experiences geography in the ‘real world’ by learning about careers linked to it and the people who work in them

Our approach

Implementation

Medium term plans are produced with the ‘Key knowledge’ and skills that children need to learn, with a strong emphasis on progression of both skills and knowledge. Our Geography curriculum makes links, where appropriate, to our history curriculum.
Our Geography curriculum:

  • is structured with units of learning around a series of key questions, which embed and contextualise the learning to promote geography mastery.
  • provides children with the opportunity to apply their learning through end-of-unit quizzes, allowing teachers to gather data to help structure and plan further learning and address any misconceptions.
  • teaches each of the three key elements of the geography curriculum termly across the school – physical and human geography in the autumn term, locational knowledge in spring term and fieldwork studies in the summer.

Impact

The impact of our curriculum is measured in terms of the extent to which children acquire new knowledge, understanding and skills and their retention of this knowledge and understanding. This will be measured by:

  • application of learning in independent learning tasks
  • the use of quizzes to check retention of knowledge and to plan for additional ‘Do Nows’ to reteach missed content.
  • Exit Tickets to check key knowledge or skills have been learnt.

Enrichment

In addition to the Geography curriculum, enrichment is offered through:

  • fieldwork studies, where the children research, observe and use map skills in the local area
  • visits to a variety of physical geography features such as rivers, beaches, and the countryside
  • beach cleans, highlighting the importance of caring for our planet and the effects of pollution

Curriculum Overview

Reception

Autumn

Who Am I? How Do We Celebrate? 

Draw information from a simple map
Discuss routes and locations, using words like ‘in front of’ and ‘behind’
Spring

Paws and Claws or Tails and scales? Big or Small or are they there at all?

Recognise some environments that are different to the one in which they live
Understand the effect of changing seasons on the natural world around them
Summer

What’s Out There? What Lies Beneath?

Draw information from a simple map
Recognise some similarities and differences between life in this country and in other countries

All Reception subjects Next Reception Subject - Religious Education

Year 1

Autumn
Human and Physical Geography; Hot and Cold Places
Identify seasonal and daily weather patterns in the United Kingdom and the location of hot and cold areas of the world in relation to the Equator and the North and South Poles
Use basic geographical vocabulary to refer to: key physical features, including: beach, cliff, coast, forest, hill, mountain, sea, ocean, river, soil, valley, vegetation, season and weather; and key human features, including: city, town, village, factory, farm, house, office, port, harbour and shop
Spring
Locational Knowledge, Settlements and Local Area
Name and locate the world’s seven continents and five oceans
Name, locate and identify characteristics of the four countries and capital cities of the United Kingdom and its surrounding seas
Understand geographical similarities and differences through studying the human and physical geography of a small area of the United Kingdom, and of a small area in a contrasting non-European country
Summer
Geographical Skills and Field Work Study - Victoria Park
Use world maps, atlases and globes to identify the United Kingdom and its countries, as well as the countries, continents and oceans studied at this key stage
Use simple compass directions (North, South, East and West) and locational and directional language [for example, near and far; left and right], to describe the location of features and routes on a map5
Use aerial photographs and plan perspectives to recognise landmarks and basic human and physical features; devise a simple map; and use and construct basic symbols in a key -use simple fieldwork and observational skills to study the geography of their school and its grounds and the key human and physical features of its surrounding environment.

All Year 1 subjects Next Year 1 Subject - Religious Education

Year 2

Autumn
Human and Physical Geography, and Continents and Oceans
Identify seasonal and daily weather patterns in the United Kingdom and the location of hot and cold areas of the world in relation to the Equator and the North and South Poles
Use basic geographical vocabulary to refer to:
Key physical features, including: beach, cliff, coast, forest, hill, mountain, sea, ocean, river, soil, valley, vegetation, season and weather
Key human features, including: city, town, village, factory, farm, house, office, port, harbour and shop
Spring
Locational Knowledge, and United Kingdom
Name and locate the world’s seven continents and five oceans
Name, locate and identify characteristics of the four countries and capital cities of the United Kingdom and its surrounding seas
Understand geographical similarities and differences through studying the human and physical geography of a small area of the United Kingdom, and of a small area in a contrasting non-European country
Summer
Geographical Skills and Field Work Study, and Walk, Bus and Gosport Ferry
Use world maps, atlases and globes to identify the United Kingdom and its countries, as well as the countries, continents and oceans studied at this key stage
Use simple compass directions (North, South, East and West) and locational and directional language [for example, near and far; left and right], to describe the location of features and routes on a map6
Use aerial photographs and plan perspectives to recognise landmarks and basic human and physical features; devise a simple map; and use and construct basic symbols in a key -use simple fieldwork and observational skills to study the geography of their school and its grounds and the key human and physical features of its surrounding environment.

All Year 2 subjects Next Year 2 Subject - Religious Education

Year 3

Autumn
Human and Physical Geography; Climate Zones
Describe and understand key aspects of: physical geography, including: climate zones, biomes and vegetation belts, rivers, mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes, and the water cycle; and human geography, including: types of settlement and land use, economic activity including trade links, and the distribution of natural resources including energy, food, minerals and water
Spring

Locational Knowledge and Europe
Locate the world’s countries, using maps to focus on Europe (including the location of Russia) and North and South America, concentrating on their environmental regions, key physical and human characteristics, countries, and major cities
Name and locate counties and cities of the United Kingdom, geographical regions and their identifying human and physical characteristics, key topographical features (including hills, mountains, coasts and rivers), and land-use patterns; and understand how some of these aspects have changed over time
Identify the position and significance of latitude, longitude, Equator, Northern Hemisphere, Southern Hemisphere, the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, Arctic and Antarctic Circle, the Prime/Greenwich Meridian and time zones (including day and night)
Understand geographical similarities and differences through the study of human and physical geography of a region of the United Kingdom, a region in a European country, and a region within North or South America
Summer
Geographical Skills and Field Work Study, and River Hamble
Use maps, atlases, globes and digital/computer mapping to locate countries and describe features studied
Use the eight points of a compass, four and six-figure grid references, symbols and key (including the use of Ordnance Survey maps) to build their knowledge of the United Kingdom and the wider world
Use fieldwork to observe, measure, record and present the human and physical features in the local area using a range of methods, including sketch maps, plans and graphs, and digital technologies.

All Year 3 subjects Next Year 3 Subject - Religious Education

Year 4

Autumn
Human and Physical Geography, and Volcanoes and Earthquakes
Describe and understand key aspects of: physical geography, including: climate zones, biomes and vegetation belts, rivers, mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes, and the water cycle; and human geography, including: types of settlement and land use, economic activity including trade links, and the distribution of natural resources including energy, food, minerals and water
Spring
Locational Knowledge, and United Kingdom
Locate the world’s countries, using maps to focus on Europe (including the location of Russia) and North and South America, concentrating on their environmental regions, key physical and human characteristics, countries, and major cities
Name and locate counties and cities of the United Kingdom, geographical regions and their identifying human and physical characteristics, key topographical features (including hills, mountains, coasts and rivers), and land-use patterns; and understand how some of these aspects have changed over time
Identify the position and significance of latitude, longitude, Equator, Northern Hemisphere, Southern Hemisphere, the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, Arctic and Antarctic Circle, the Prime/Greenwich Meridian and time zones (including day and night)
Understand geographical similarities and differences through the study of human and physical geography of a region of the United Kingdom, a region in a European country, and a region within North or South America
Summer
Geographical Skills and Field Work Study; and Southsea Castle and surroundings
Use maps, atlases, globes and digital/computer mapping to locate countries and describe features studied
Use the eight points of a compass, four and six-figure grid references, symbols and key (including the use of Ordnance Survey maps) to build their knowledge of the United Kingdom and the wider world
Use fieldwork to observe, measure, record and present the human and physical features in the local area using a range of methods, including sketch maps, plans and graphs, and digital technologies.

All Year 4 subjects Next Year 4 Subject - Religious Education

Year 5

Autumn
Human and Physical Geography, and Rainforests
Describe and understand key aspects of: physical geography, including: climate zones, biomes and vegetation belts, rivers, mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes, and the water cycle; human geography, including: types of settlement and land use, economic activity including trade links, and the distribution of natural resources including energy, food, minerals and water
Spring
Locational Knowledge and The Amazon Basin and South America
Locate the world’s countries, using maps to focus on Europe (including the location of Russia) and North and South America, concentrating on their environmental regions, key physical and human characteristics, countries, and major cities
Name and locate counties and cities of the United Kingdom, geographical regions and their identifying human and physical characteristics, key topographical features (including hills, mountains, coasts and rivers), and land-use patterns; and understand how some of these aspects have changed over time
Identify the position and significance of latitude, longitude, Equator, Northern Hemisphere, Southern Hemisphere, the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, Arctic and Antarctic Circle, the Prime/Greenwich Meridian and time zones (including day and night)
Understand geographical similarities and differences through the study of human and physical geography of a region of the United Kingdom, a region in a European country, and a region within North or South America
Summer
Geographical Skills and Field Work Study, and Forest of Bere
Use maps, atlases, globes and digital/computer mapping to locate countries and describe features studied
Use the eight points of a compass, four and six-figure grid references, symbols and key (including the use of Ordnance Survey maps) to build their knowledge of the United Kingdom and the wider world
Use fieldwork to observe, measure, record and present the human and physical features in the local area using a range of methods, including sketch maps, plans and graphs, and digital technologies.

All Year 5 subjects Next Year 5 Subject - Religious Education

Year 6

Autumn
Human and Physical Geography, and Mountains and Rivers
Describe and understand key aspects of: physical geography, including: climate zones, biomes and vegetation belts, rivers, mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes, and the water cycle; and human geography, including: types of settlement and land use, economic activity including trade links, and the distribution of natural resources including energy, food, minerals and water
Spring
Locational Knowledge and North America
Locate the world’s countries, using maps to focus on Europe (including the location of Russia) and North and South America, concentrating on their environmental regions, key physical and human characteristics, countries, and major cities
Name and locate counties and cities of the United Kingdom, geographical regions and their identifying human and physical characteristics, key topographical features (including hills, mountains, coasts and rivers), and land-use patterns; and understand how some of these aspects have changed over time
Identify the position and significance of latitude, longitude, Equator, Northern Hemisphere, Southern Hemisphere, the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, Arctic and Antarctic Circle, the Prime/Greenwich Meridian and time zones (including day and night)
Understand geographical similarities and differences through the study of human and physical geography of a region of the United Kingdom, a region in a European country, and a region within North or South America
Summer
Geographical Skills and Field Work Study, and Farlington Marsh
Use maps, atlases, globes and digital/computer mapping to locate countries and describe features studied
Use the eight points of a compass, four and six-figure grid references, symbols and key (including the use of Ordnance Survey maps) to build their knowledge of the United Kingdom and the wider world
Use fieldwork to observe, measure, record and present the human and physical features in the local area using a range of methods, including sketch maps, plans and graphs, and digital technologies.

All Year 6 subjects Next Year 6 Subject - Religious Education