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Aycliffe Drive Primary School

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Geography

Vision 

At Aycliffe Drive Primary School our pupils are encouraged to be inquisitive, to pose questions and seek answers independently. Our geography curriculum inspires pupils to look closely at the world around them and develop the skills necessary to be able to interpret what they see. We want geography to be meaningful to the pupil’s own lives and experiences and to carry on their geography learning as they get older. We focus on locational knowledge, place knowledge, human and physical geography and geographical skills and fieldwork. We begin with the world around us and slowly zoom in to our own locality and learn more about our local area of Hemel Hmepstead. 

Intent 

At Aycliffe Drive Primary School, we believe that geography helps to provoke and answer questions about the natural and human worlds, encouraging pupils to develop a greater understanding of their world and their place in it. Geography is, by nature an investigative subject, which develops an understanding of concepts, knowledge and skills. We seek to inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the world and the people which will remain with them for the rest of their lives. At Aycliffe Drive we also aim to promote pupil’s interest and understanding about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes. 

Implementation 

At Aycliffe Drive, we follow and teach from the National Curriculum with the aim to ensure that all pupils: 

  • develop age-appropriate, accurate knowledge of the location, physical and human characteristics of a wide range of globally significant places  
  • understand the key physical and human geographical features of the world, how these are reliant and how they bring about variation and change to the geographical landscape 
  • to be able to use geographical vocabulary which is appropriate and accurate and which develops and evolves from KS1 through to KS2 
  • collect, analyse and present a range of data, gathered through experiences of fieldwork, to deepen understanding  
  • use and interpret a wide range of sources of geographical information, including maps, globes and aerial photographs 
  • to promote children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development helping them to have a greater understanding of their place in the world, and their rights and responsibilities to other people and the environment 

Impact 

Within geography, we strive to create a supportive and collaborative ethos for learning by providing investigative and enquiry-based learning opportunities. Emphasis is placed on investigative learning opportunities to help children gain a coherent knowledge of understanding of each unit of work covered throughout the school. Pupils will deepen their understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes and how this affects landscapes and environments. 

A quick look into our geography learning here at Aycliffe Drive Primary School: 

  • In EYFS, we focus on the building blocks to geography by beginning to study the natural world around us, including our local area and the weather  
  • In KS1, we compare our town to a seaside location and study the similarities and differences between both. We learn about the UK and the four countries and the surrounding seas 
  • In LKS2, we learn about volcanoes and earthquakes, our local area and rainforests 
  • In UKS2, we learn about Asia, farming and a mega city 

 

Pupils voice: 

Olivia ‘we learn about the world and the UK. I live in England.’ 

Lily- Mae ‘there are 7 continents and 5 oceans. We live in Europe, in England. The capital of England is London.’ 

Oliver ‘we learn about the world around us and our local area. We need to look after our local area.’ 

Jeremiah ‘geography is when you learn about the world and the weather in that place.’ 

Kenzie ‘It is about the countries around the world. We also looked at which countries are north and south of the equator.’ 

Arthur ‘I like geography because we look at maps and we have used globes to find where we live.’ 

Frankie ‘We learn about the weather and climate and how this can affect the people that live there.’ 

 

By the end of Year 6, we want our pupils to leave Aycliffe Drive having developed their geographical skills, knowledge and enquiry. For pupils to understand the similarities and differences between localities, both locally and in the wider world and the effect this has on the humans that live there. We want pupils to carry on their geography learning building on what has been the first steps in their geography education.

 

Supporting Documents