Fairlop Primary School

Geography at Fairlop
Geography is, by nature, an investigative subject, which develops an understanding of concepts, knowledge and skills. The geography curriculum helps pupils understand key aspects of the world including people, places, environments and the interactions between them. At Fairlop, we aim to develop and strengthen pupil’s awareness of the world around them. Children will cover a broad range of enquiry skills, including the development of geographical skills such as route finding, fieldwork, observations and map reading over the primary years. Planning is supported by the Rising Stars Geography scheme of work.

In Key Stage 1, children will develop their knowledge about the world, the United Kingdom and their locality relating to human and physical geography. They will use geographical vocabulary to refer to key physical features (e.g. beach, cliff) and human features (e.g. city, town). They will begin to use geographical skills including first hand observation, compass directions, map reading and looking at aerial photography to enhance their locational awareness. Children will also be able to identify the continents and discuss which areas have significant hot and/or cold areas. Children will identify the different seasons, weather in the UK and understand that different parts of the UK have different weather. They will also be beginning to understand agriculture and where their food comes from.

In Key Stage 2, pupils will extend their knowledge and understanding beyond the local area to include the United Kingdom and Europe, North and South America. Children will learn to identify different climate zones and discuss their characteristics. They will learn to describe and understand physical geography features such as rivers, mountains, volcanoes, earthquakes and the water cycle as well as human geography features such as types of settlement, land use, economic activity and trade links. They will learn about coastal environments in the UK and discuss why the physical features may change over a period of time. They will also use maps to identify the position and significance of latitude & longitude, the equator, northern & southern hemispheres, tropics of Cancer & Capricorn, Artic & Antarctic Circle, the prime/Greenwich meridian and time zones. They will further develop their geographical skills by using OS maps, atlases, globes, compasses and digital/computer mapping to locate countries. A range of methods will be used to observe, measure, record and present human and physical features.

Curriculum links
Where relevant, the geography curriculum has been planned in line with the content of other curriculum subjects. The geography knowledge, skills and concepts children acquire across the school are then applied to their cross-curricular topics, allowing children to use their geographical skills to reflect on and explore curriculum content in greater depth. 

Outcomes
Geography books in Y1 and Y2 and folders in Y3,4,5,6 are provided for each child. The books and folders will show a progression of geographical knowledge and skills. Where relevant, geography texts and written pieces will be combined with English lessons. This is to deepen children’s knowledge in order that they are able to confidently apply their skills across the curriculum and the high-quality writing outcomes produced by pupils in their literacy work are mirrored in their geography writing. In many cases, art and design / design and technology work is also linked to the geography units, allowing children to apply their geographical knowledge in creative ways e.g., by designing and making a building from the local area or a making fair trade banana bread.