Geography
Our Geography Curriculum:
'Geography underpins a lifelong "conversation" about the earth as the home of humankind.'
Geography Association
Our vision for geography:
At St Bartholomew’s, we are passionate about educating our children to be citizens of the globe. Through our engaging and challenging geography curriculum, our children are given the opportunity to explore our ever-changing planet and to develop the skills to understand its physical and human features.
Skills of a great geography student:
- A curiosity and fascination for the world around them.
- Have a deep understanding of the world’s physical features and processes.
- Have knowledge of the planet’s significant places and be able to make comparisons between them.
- Be able to collect and interpret a range of data from the world around them.
- Be able to make connections between the physical and human features of our planet to other areas of the curriculum.
About geography at St Bartholomew's:
Throughout their primary journey, our pupils are taught the four skills strands:
Location Knowledge- in which pupils are given the opportunity to explore and locate the countries of the United Kingdom and the wider world. They also explore the seven continents and several regions of the world, looking carefully at human and physical characteristics and topographical features (including mountains, hills, coasts and rivers).
Place Knowledge – in which children are encouraged to identify and explore the similarities and differences between a region of the United Kingdom and another country in the world.
Human and Physical Geography – in which our pupils are taught to describe and understand key aspects of weather, climate zones, biomes and vegetation belts, rivers, mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes and the water cycle. They are also taught to explore and understand some key aspects of human geography such as settlements, economic activity and trade links, and natural resources.
Geographical skills and Field work – in which children are taught the important skills of using maps, atlases, and digital computer mapping to describe the features of regions and places they have studied. Our pupils are also taught to use compass points, grid references and map keys. At St Bartholomew’s, we aim to teach these skills with hands on experiences in our locality.
Each unit of study is carefully planned to ensure these concepts are included and prior knowledge and key vocabulary are considered.
Geography Curriculum Cycle One and Two
Helping your child with geography at home:
A curiosity for the world is the most important thing to encourage in a young geographer. This should start on your doorstep! Walk around your locality and discuss the human and physical features of your local area. You may even want to use Google maps or Earth to encourage your child to spot significant landmarks and places. Explore the wider world from your computer! Google Earth is a wonderful resources to explore the planet’s physical and human features!
Useful links:
