Geography

Geography supports us to see our physical position in the world and covers local, regional, national and global places and features. Having geographical knowledge and understanding helps to make sense of everyday experiences like weather patterns, housing material choices, animal habitats and food chains.  Geography develops transferable skills, such as research, observation, measurement, recording and presentation.

Intent

• To develop each child’s sense of self in relation to their geographical location.
• To know the names of key geographical features and locations.
• To understand how the physical landscape influences how we live our lives.
• To compare and contrast different locations using knowledge of the local area as a reference point.
• To ensure that children have the personal and first hand experiences necessary to talk about or understand a pictorial representation (e.g. trip on the Thames, to a beach, a pond, a forest)

Implementation:

All children at Hillside Infant School will gain knowledge and understanding of both human and physical geography, knowledge of location and knowledge of place. Children will also develop skills in fieldwork, including observation and recording.

At Hillside, we find opportunities to develop these skills by making use of our green surroundings by accessing outdoor learning. Planning involves teachers creating engaging lessons, often utilising our local woodland/area to motivate and create meaningful links. These are purposeful and link with the knowledge being taught in class. 

Themes and topics have been chosen with the Hillside families in mind. At least 25% of Hillside families are Portuguese and have family links to the Porto area; this is why we have chosen to study this area in Year One. Studying areas such as Ruislip Lido provides engaging trips for the children to an area which is easily accessible for families to visit at a later date.

Nursery – Space, Dinosaurs, Super me (linked to location), growing

Reception- Plants, Our Planet, animals.

Year 1 – Our local area (comparison between Ruislip Lido and Northwood Hills), Porto

Year 2 – Living things and their habitats, my locality in the UK, rainforest’s, our world and its oceans