Geography

At Woodthorpe, we aim for children to gain a full understanding of the world that surrounds them, from their local environment to the far reaches of the globe. We firmly believe that Geographical knowledge is a skill for life, which helps children to recognise how changes to places and the environment happen and affect us, both as a result of natural processes and through human activity. Through geography, we discover and celebrate a range of different cultures, respecting how they may be similar or different to ours. We encourage children to explore important geographical skills and enhance their fieldwork skills, allowing them to use maps, atlases, directional language, scales and OS mapping to achieve the accuracy used by geographers. 

Geography is embedded into many subjects within school and regular sporting competitions enhance understanding through knowledge about different countries, cultures and customs. Children are challenged to consider how to preserve planet earth and eradicate the harmful effects of global warming through forward-thinking innovation and carefully considered ideas. 

Our Geography curriculum is taught through the published scheme, KAPOW, and builds upon the National Curriculum and is implemented using four discrete stands:

1. Location Knowledge
2. Place Knowledge
3. Human and Physical Geography
4. Geographical Skills and Fieldwork.

We believe that a strong understanding of place is key to our Geography curriculum. This knowledge is built systematically from the ‘Understanding the World’ strands in Early Years and continues to build throughout Key Stages 1 and 2. Once this is secure, at each stage of learning, our children deepen their geographical understanding by identifying patterns in human behaviour; be it local movement, the use of waterways or coastlines for settlements and other related environmental issues.

At Woodthorpe, we strive to enhance our Geography curriculum, and we achieve this in a number of ways. Each year group takes part in a Geography field trip, in which the children use key fieldwork skills to collect and analyse data. We are lucky enough to have a dedicated forest school team and in these sessions, children get to explore the outdoor environment, while developing a range of fieldwork and environment. Furthermore, Geography club is an excellent opportunity for children to explore countries around the world through arts and crafts. 

Geography – Key knowledge & skills progression

Sample Knowledge Mat