Geography
At The Olive School, Bolton, Geography is the study of places and the relationships between people and their environments. Star pupils will develop a deep knowledge of the physical and human geography of the local environment, the UK and the wider world, and have the capacity to add to this body of understanding themselves in the future. It is essential that pupils develop a meaningful understanding of location and place, including that of their local area. Star schools will deliver a curriculum that:
- Inspires curiosity and fascination about the world and its people.
- Equips children with an understanding of diverse places, people, resources and environments.
- Allows children to build on prior learning about physical and human processes and the formation and use of landscapes and environments.
- Develops an understanding that the Earth’s physical features are interconnected and change over time.
- Encourages exploration of their own environment and supports children to make connections between their local surroundings and that of contrasting settlements.
- Systematically develops the disciplinary knowledge of: asking enquiry questions, collecting, analysing and interpreting data through fieldwork; interpreting maps, diagrams, globes and aerial photographs; communicating geographical information in a variety of ways, evaluating and debating ideas and the impact of processes, phenomena and humans on the world.
Learning begins in Reception and Year 1, where pupils learn the component location knowledge of their local area, the UK, such as the names of the countries, capital cities and key human features. In Upper Key Stage 2, this culminates in the development of rich geography schema, encompassing, for example, a deep understanding of South America, World Trade and biomes.
Our pupils use a range of maps, atlases, globes and aerial images so that geography map and fieldwork skills are systematically developed. The geography progression map below details the careful long-term curriculum sequencing of these essential skills. Essential geographical concepts such as the features of rivers, earthquakes and factors affecting settlement location are taught by focussing on specific locations and regions. This allows invaluable comparisons to be made between the UK and other areas of the world.
The four main strands in the National Curriculum for geography are procedural knowledge (geography skills and fieldwork), declarative knowledge (locational knowledge, human and physical geography and place knowledge) and disciplinary knowledge (how to ‘be’ a geographer through asking and investigating geographical questions, evaluating and debating geographical processes). These are carefully mapped out in our geography progression map, accessible below.
Our knowledge-rich geography curriculum is taught according to the following whole school long term plan for geography:
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | Year 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Local Area | The School Setting | Settlements & Populations | Climates | Our Changing Country | Biomes |
| The UK | The UK and Weather | The Local Area | Our European Neighbours | Trade and Resources | North America |
| The Seven Continents | Contrasting Locality | Mountains and Volcanoes | Earthquakes and Tsunamis | Rivers | South America |
Our children are given motivating and inspiring out-of-class opportunities and special experiences to embed essential learning. This enrichment is an essential element of our geography curriculum offer.
Resources
To view our Progression Map, click here
To view our Geography Pathway Roadmap, click here