11th October 2024Geography
“I believe it is in our nature to explore, to reach out into the unknown” - Ernest Shackleton
The Geography Journey
At Hinchley Wood Primary School, we believe that knowledge and understanding of places and environments is an important part of our pupils’ development. Our Geography curriculum enables pupils to develop a sense of identity, understand their place in the world and gain an appreciation of life in other cultures. Our aim is for pupils to learn respect and develop an understanding of what it means to be a positive citizen in a multicultural country, including the impact they can have on society.
There are four key elements taught in our Geography Curriculum.
- Locational knowledge
- Place knowledge
- Human and physical geography
- Geographical skills and fieldwork
Geography at Hinchley Wood Primary takes the pupils on a journey where they build on their knowledge and skills as they progress through the school. We aim to create a passion for the subject by starting the journey with what the children know, their personal experiences and the familiar location of the local area. As the children progress through the school, their learning expands to the wider world.
In each unit of work, we plan collaborative opportunities for pupils to discuss, explore and share their ideas. They are encouraged to make comparisons with what they are learning about to their own life. We encourage children to be geographers by actively making use of atlases, globes, maps and digital mapping. We teach the children how to use, draw and interpret maps. In our Geography curriculum, pupils will develop the skills of enquiry, research, investigation, analysis and problem-solving, discovering how to present their conclusions in the most appropriate way. Equally important, are the geographical skills we teach, alongside an element of fieldwork each year. We use a number of online resources to support our teaching.
In our ever changing world, we value the importance of discussing current environmental issues such as global warming, pollution and deforestation. By including these in our curriculum, we believe children will develop confidence in their understanding of the world and the impact they can have on it.
Geography is all around us – whether it is our local area, the weather, transport, current environmental issues, days out or holidays. Geographical knowledge and understanding can be supported with discussions about what young people are seeing, where they are going and changes in a place over time. Children love maps! Looking at maps, ranging from a map of a theme park to scaled Ordnance Survey maps is fascinating for children, as is creating their own maps of places they visit.
