Geography
Put simply, geography is about understanding the world: comparing locations; investigating; researching different sources; writing and talking about places; asking and answering questions. Curiosity is the bedrock of how we teach Geography at LPPA - our pupils develop an understanding of the principles of both physical and human geography as they develop that all important fascination about the world and its people..
Primary National Curriculum for Geography
Geography in the Early Years
The early learning goals at EYFS aim to guide your child to make sense of their physical world and their community by exploring, observing, and finding out about people, places, technology and the environment. It may seem strange to think about your 4 year old child as a geographer. However, the years from birth to age five provide a first opportunity to see how your child interacts with their environment — and how the environment influences them.
Geography in Key Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2)
Geographical vocabulary is a major focus in Years 1 and 2 as the children begin to develop an understanding of where they live and compare this to another local area and contrast it to somewhere outside of Europe. They will learn about weather patterns in the United Kingdom and hot and cold areas of the world. They will use ICT, world maps, atlases and globes, simple compass directions, aerial photographs and plans, as well as simple fieldwork and observational skills. Immersion is the key!
Geography in Key Stage 2 (Years 3, 4, 5 and 6)
There are four core components to the Geography curriculum in Key Stage 2. Our aim is to ensure that the children have the chance to build on their geographical understanding from Key Stage 1 and use this to further develop their knowledge of our planet and the people on it:
Location knowledge
Your child will use maps to focus on Europe, North and South America, concentrating on regions, key physical and human characteristics, latitude, longitude, countries, and major cities. They will also work on locating the counties and cities of the United Kingdom, and start to explore their human and physical characteristics.
Place knowledge
Children will also examine geographical similarities and differences by comparing the geography of a region of the United Kingdom with a region in a European country, and with a region in either North or South America.
Human and physical geography
Your child will be taught to describe and understand key aspects of geography, for example: climate zones, rivers, mountains, volcanoes, earthquakes, the water cycle, types of settlement, economic activity and the distribution of natural resources.
Geographical skills and fieldwork
Your child will use maps, atlases, globes, digital/computer mapping to locate countries describe features studied. They will use the eight points of a compass, four and six figure grid references, symbols and key (including OS maps) to build their knowledge of the UK and wider world. They will use sketch maps, plans, graphs and digital technologies to present, observe, measure and record data.