Geography

Geography at Weston

At Weston Village Primary School, Geography helps children understand places, people, environments and the relationships between them.

We want pupils to develop a secure sense of where they are in the world, while becoming increasingly curious about places beyond their own experience.

Children learn geographical knowledge alongside the skills needed to investigate places for themselves. They use maps and atlases, undertake fieldwork, collect and interpret information, compare places and consider how physical processes and human activity shape our world.

What Children Learn

Our Geography curriculum develops four closely connected areas:

• locational knowledge – knowing where places are

• place knowledge – understanding what places are like and how they compare

• human and physical geography – understanding natural processes and human activity

• geographical skills and fieldwork – using maps, data, observation and enquiry to investigate places.

These strands are revisited throughout the curriculum so that children build increasingly detailed and connected geographical understanding.

Developing a Sense of Place

Children begin with places that are familiar to them and gradually extend their knowledge outwards.

In Year 1, pupils explore the school and locality, locate Weston on a map and learn about the countries and capital cities of the United Kingdom.

By Year 2, pupils locate the world's continents and oceans and compare contrasting places in Kenya, including Nairobi, Mombasa and Narok, while explicitly learning that Africa is a diverse continent rather than a single type of place.

As pupils progress through Key Stage 2, they study increasingly complex regional and global comparisons, including Sicily, the Amazon region, Eryri and the Rocky Mountains.

A deliberate part of this learning is recognising that places are complex and that people's experiences of them vary. For example, the Year 3 European comparison explicitly teaches pupils that we cannot generalise about what life is like in a place.

Fieldwork and Geographical Enquiry

Fieldwork is an important and progressive part of Geography at Weston.

Children learn that geographical enquiry involves more than going outside and making observations. They increasingly learn to:

• ask geographical questions

• decide what information they need

• choose ways to collect it

• observe and measure

• record and present data

• analyse what they have found

• draw conclusions

• evaluate the enquiry itself.

In Year 1, pupils investigate their school and locality, make observations and collect simple data.

Year 3 pupils investigate local land use, using aerial photographs, Ordnance Survey symbols, sketch maps and local data.

In Year 4, pupils' settlement fieldwork develops further: they select data to collect, present findings, communicate conclusions and evaluate the effectiveness of their enquiry.

By Year 6, pupils undertake more independent comparative fieldwork around rivers and coasts, choosing appropriate data-collection methods, conducting surveys, comparing sources and selecting suitable graphs or charts to communicate findings.

Maps and Geographical Skills

Children develop increasing confidence in interpreting and creating geographical representations.

This begins with aerial views, simple maps and sketch maps in Year 1.

As pupils progress, they learn to use:

• atlases and world maps

• aerial photographs

• Ordnance Survey maps and symbols

• keys and scales

• four-figure grid references

• contour lines

• latitude and longitude

• the Prime Meridian and International Date Line

• time zones.

By Year 5, pupils use latitude and longitude to locate places and connect location with climate, biomes, seasons, day and night and time zones.

Human and Physical Geography

Children learn how physical processes shape environments and how people interact with them.

Physical geography includes areas such as:

• weather and climate

• rivers and the water cycle

• mountains

• volcanoes and earthquakes

• climate zones

• biomes

• coasts.

Human geography develops through areas including:

• settlements

• land use

• tourism

• access to water

• natural resources

• trade

• economic activity

• migration and the workforce.

Importantly, these are not always taught separately. Pupils are encouraged to understand the connections between people and physical environments.

For example, Year 4 pupils explore both river processes and why people settle near rivers, flooding, access to water and sustainable water use.

Sustainability and Geographical Decision-Making

As children's geographical knowledge grows, they encounter increasingly complex questions about how people use and affect places.

Pupils consider areas such as:

• litter and local environments

• deforestation

• water use

• tourism

• renewable and non-renewable resources

• sustainable use of resources

• trade and fast fashion.

In Year 6, pupils investigate the unequal distribution of natural resources and consider their environmental and social impacts. They also study global trade, including the clothing industry and the consequences of fast fashion.

Children are encouraged to use geographical evidence, recognise that different people may hold different views and form reasoned opinions of their own.

How Learning Develops

In Key Stage 1, children establish essential geographical foundations. They learn about their locality, the United Kingdom, weather, continents and oceans, begin comparing contrasting places and carry out simple fieldwork enquiries.

In Lower Key Stage 2, pupils develop more sophisticated mapwork and enquiry skills while studying land use, tectonic hazards, European regions, settlements, rivers, climate zones and biomes.

In Upper Key Stage 2, pupils work with increasingly complex physical and human geography. They study mountains, global location through latitude and longitude, natural resources, trade and economic activity, and undertake increasingly independent fieldwork.

Geography in Reception

In Reception, geographical understanding develops primarily through Understanding the World.

Children build knowledge of their immediate environment, notice features of the natural world and begin to understand that places can be different from one another.

Stories, conversation, outdoor exploration, simple maps and first-hand experiences provide foundations for the more formal Geography curriculum that begins in Year 1.

How We Teach Geography

Our whole-school teaching routines support Geography alongside subject-specific enquiry.

I → We → You allows teachers to model skills such as interpreting a map, analysing geographical information or collecting fieldwork data before pupils apply these with increasing independence.

Scaffold → Fade means maps, vocabulary, visual prompts, worked examples and structured recording can support pupils initially and are reduced as understanding develops.

Retrieval, little and often helps pupils revisit important places, vocabulary, concepts and map knowledge.

Words & Visuals supports the specialist vocabulary, maps, diagrams, photographs and representations that are central to geographical understanding.

Inclusion in Geography

We want every child to participate meaningfully in geographical learning and fieldwork.

Teachers anticipate barriers and may use:

• carefully chosen maps and visual material

• explicit vocabulary teaching

• additional modelling

• structured questions

• adapted recording methods

• accessible fieldwork equipment

• supported oral rehearsal

• additional preparation for visits or fieldwork.

Adaptations support access to the same important geographical knowledge and enquiry wherever possible while developing children's independence.

Assessment

Assessment is part of Geography teaching rather than something that happens only at the end of a unit.

Teachers use questioning, discussion, maps, pupils' written and practical work and outcomes from fieldwork to identify what children understand and can apply.

We are interested in whether pupils can use their geographical knowledge, for example to:

• locate and describe places

• make comparisons

• interpret maps and data

• explain geographical processes

• connect human and physical geography

• draw conclusions from evidence.

Retrieval activities also help teachers identify whether important prior knowledge has been retained and what needs revisiting.

Our Geography Curriculum

The document below shows how geographical learning develops from Year 1 to Year 6.