St Stephen’s CE (VA) Primary School

Aims of Geography at St Stephen's

At St Stephen’s CE School the aims of Geography are to teach our children an understanding of places and environments.

Through their work in Geography, our children learn about their local area and compare their life in this area with that in other regions in the United Kingdom and the rest of the world.

They learn how to draw and interpret maps and they develop the skills of research, investigation, analysis and problem-solving. Through their growing knowledge and understanding of human Geography, our children gain an appreciation of life in other cultures.

Our Geography teaching also motivates children to find out about the physical world and enables them to recognise the importance of sustainable development for the future of mankind.

Curriculum map

Year Group	Autumn 1	Autumn 2	Spring 1	Spring 2	Summer 1	Summer 2
Nursery	All About Me! -Autumn	Traditional Tales My home	Weather Wonders! Weather Chinese New Year	The Great Outdoors Weather, seasons	N/A	Going Places! transport, comparing Spain to the UK seaside
Reception	Where we live - myself	Where we live – my house. Where we live – West Bowling Seasons – Autumn/weather	N/A	Seasonal Spring changes	UK Map of the UK London – Landmarks, compare to a coastal area Weather	Asia – China Compare China to the UK Look at different styles of buildings, weather Linking schools?
Year 1	Where we live – West Bowling & my street	Where we live – West Bowling & my neighbourhood	N/A	N/A	Africa Seasonal changes – wonderful weather	Africa – a country of choice Linking schools?
Year 2	Where we live – Bradford – Our city	Where we live – Bradford – contrasting areas in Bradford	N/A	N/A	Antarctica	Antarctica – a country of choice Linking schools?
Year 3	Haworth (class name study) UK - cities	UK - Counties	Stone Age – settlement and migration	The Roman Invasion – settlement and migration	Australia	Australasia – linking schools
Year 4	UK Countries – land use Human and physical geographical features	Uk Capital Cities – land use Human and physical geographical features	Anglo Saxons/Vikings - settlement and migration	Viking and Anglo-Saxon struggle for the Kingdom of England	Europe – Area or city, compare to UK one	Europe - a country of choice -Italy
Year 5	Europe – main countries – map skills	Europe –human and physical features comparison	Egypt	Greece	North America - as a whole	North America – a country of choice - linking schools?
Year 6	The world - Review of KS2	West Bowling – industrial revolution	N/A	N/A	South America - changes over time?	South America - come and visit? Protect the place?!

Geography National Curriculum coverage at St Stephen's

Key Stage 1

By the end of key stage 1, pupils should have developed knowledge about the world, the United Kingdom and their locality. They should understand basic subject-specific vocabulary relating to human and physical geography and begin to use geographical skills, including first-hand observation, to enhance their locational awareness.

During key stage 1, they should be taught to:

Locational knowledge

	Coverage at St Stephen’s
Name and locate the world’s seven continents and five oceans	Year 1 – Summer 1 & Summer 2 - Africa Year 2 - Summer 1 & Summer 2 - Antarctica
Name, locate and identify characteristics of the four countries and capital cities of the United Kingdom and its surrounding seas	Year 1 – Summer 1 & Summer 2 -Africa Year 2 - Summer 1 & Summer 2 - Antarctica

Place knowledge

	Coverage at St Stephen’s
Understand geographical similarities and differences through studying the human and physical geography of a small area of the United Kingdom, and of a small area in a contrasting non-European country	Year 1 – Autumn 1 & Autumn 2 - West Bowling – my neighbourhood Year 1 – Summer 1 & Summer 2 - Africa Year 2 – Summer 1 & Summer 2 - Antarctica

Human and physical geography

	Coverage at St Stephen’s
Identify seasonal and daily weather patterns in the United Kingdom and the location of hot and cold areas of the world in relation to the Equator and the North and South Poles	Year 2 – Summer 1 & Summer 2 - Antarctica
Use basic geographical vocabulary to refer to: key physical features, including: beach, cliff, cast, forest, hill, mountain, sea, ocean, river, soil, valley, vegetation, season and weather	Year 1 – Summer 1 & Summer 2 - Africa
key human features, including: city, twn, village, factory, farm, house, office, port, harbour and shop	Year 1 – Autumn 2 - West Bowling – my neighbourhood Year 2 – Autumn 1 – Where We Live – Bradford; Our City

Geographical skills and fieldwork

	Coverage at St Stephen’s
Use world maps, atlases and globes to identify the United Kingdom and its countries, as well as the countries, continents and oceans studied at this key stage	Year 1 – Autumn 1 - West Bowling – my neighbourhood
Use simple compass directions (North, South, East and West) and locational and directional language [for example, near and far; left and right], to describe the location of features and routes on a map	Year 1 – Summer 1 & Summer 2 – Africa Year 2 – Autumn 1 – Bradford; Our City Year 2 – Autumn 2 – Bradford; a contrasting area in Bradford Year 2 – Summer 1 & Summer 2 - Antarctica
Use aerial photographs and plan perspectives to recognise landmarks and basic human and physical features; devise a simple map; and use and construct basic symbols in a key	Year 1 – Autumn 2 – West Bowling; my neighbourhood Year 2 – Autumn 1 – Bradford; Our City
Use simple fieldwork and observational skills to study the geography of their school and its grounds and the key human and physical features of its surrounding environment.	Year 1 – Autumn 1 – West Bowling; My Street Year 2 – Autumn 1 – Bradford; Our City

Key Stage 2

During key stage 2, pupils should extend their knowledge and understanding beyond the local area to include the United Kingdom and Europe, North and South America. This will include the location and characteristics of a range of the world’s most significant human and physical features. They should develop their use of geographical knowledge, understanding and skills to enhance their locational and place knowledge.

They should be taught to:

Locational knowledge

	Coverage at St Stephen’s
Locate the world’s countries, using maps to focus on Europe (including the location of Russia) and North and South America, concentrating on their environmental regions, key physical and human characteristics, countries, and major cities	Year 3 – Autumn 1 – Cities in the UK Year 3 – Summer 1 & Summer 2 – Australia Year 4 – Autumn 1 – UK Year 5- Egypt Spring 1, Greece Spring 2 Year 5 – Summer 1 & Summer 2 – North America
Name and locate counties and cities of the United Kingdom, geographical regions and their identifying human and physical characteristics, key topographical features (including hills, mountains, coasts and rivers), and land-use patterns; and understand how some of these aspects have changed over time	Year 3 – Autumn 2 – Counties in England Year 4 – Autumn 1 - UK
Identify the position and significance of latitude, longitude, Equator, Northern Hemisphere, Southern Hemisphere, the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, Arctic and Antarctic Circle, the Prime/Greenwich Meridian and time zones (including day and night)	Year 3 – Summer 1 & Summer 2 – Australia Year 4 – Summer 1 & Summer 2 – Europe (Paris and Italy) Year 5 – Summer 1 & Summer 2 – South America Year 6 - Summer 1 & Summer 2 – South America

Place knowledge

	Coverage at St Stephen’s
Understand geographical similarities and differences through the study of human and physical geography of a region of the United Kingdom, a region in a European country, and a region within North or South America	Year 5 – Autumn 2 – Europe: Human and physical features comparison Year 5 – Summer 1 & Summer 2 – North America Year 6 –Summer - Summer 1 & Summer 2 – South America

Human and physical geography

Describe and understand key aspects of:	Coverage at St Stephen’s
Physical geography, including: climate zones, biomes and vegetation belts, rivers, mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes, and the water cycle	Year 4 – Autumn 1 - UK Year 5- Summer 1 North America & Summer 2 Year 6- Summer 1 & 2
Human geography, including: types of settlement and land use, economic activity including trade links, and the distribution of natural resources including energy, food, minerals and water	Year 3 – Autumn 1 – Cities in the UK Year 3 – Autumn 2 – Counties in the UK Year 3 – Summer 1 & Summer 2 – Australia Year 4 – Spring 1 – Anglo Saxons/ Vikings – settlement and migration Year 5 Year 6

Geographical skills and fieldwork

	Coverage at St Stephen’s
Use maps, atlases, globes and digital/computer mapping to locate countries and describe features studied	Year 3 – Autumn 1 – Cities in the UK Year 4 – Autumn 1 – UK; land use
Use the eight points of a compass, four and six-figure grid references, symbols and key (including the use of Ordnance Survey maps) to build their knowledge of the United Kingdom and the wider world	Year 3 – Autumn 1 – Cities in the UK Year 4 – Autumn 1 – UK; land use Year 5 – Autumn 1 – Europe; main countries Year 6
Use fieldwork to observe, measure, record and present the human and physical features in the local area using a range of methods, including sketch maps, plans and graphs, and digital technologies.	Year 4 – Autumn 1 – UK; land use Year 5 – Autumn 1 – Europe; main countries Year 5 –Autumn 2 – Europe; human and physical features Year 6 – Autumn 1 – The world; recap of KS2 Year 6 – Summer 1 & Summer 2 – South America

Promoting British values

The fundamental ‘British values’ defined by the DfE are:

Democracy - respect for democracy and support for participation in the democratic process.
The Rule of Law - respect for the basis on which the law is made and applies in Britain.
Individual Liberty - support and respect for the liberties of all within the law.
Tolerance and Mutual Respect - support for equality of opportunity for all and respect and tolerance of different faiths and religious and other beliefs.

Democracy

We have the opportunity to explore and discuss injustices and inequalities (perceived or real) and challenge and debate these through the exploration of geographical topics
We have the opportunity to explore and consider different opinions and how voices are heard

The Rule of Law

We follow rules in our classroom to protect the rights of all us to an education
We uphold whole-school policies with regards to homework, uniform etc.

Half termly curriculum booklet articles

Each half-term, pupils and home are provided with a booklet outlining what pupils are learning, how home can help, useful websites and the vocabulary we will be using. To see the English examples of these, click on the year group below.

Nursery	Reception	Year 1	Year 2
Year 3	Year 4	Year 5	Year 6

Useful websites

Within each of our units of learning, there will be details of websites that can support home and further learning beyond the classroom.