Geography

All the pupils in the DBCPS community, including SEN and disadvantaged pupils, will participate and learn the following concepts and themes through their journey here.

They will study different geographical topics throughout their time at DBCPS that will build on previous learning, help them in the future and always engage and excite their learning in the present.

At DBCPS we aim:

• To develop all children’s knowledge of globally significant places (including their physical and human characteristics)
• To teach all children to understand how human and physical features are formed and how these change over time (including environmental impact).

We do this through the following key concepts:

• Locational knowledge
• Place knowledge
• Human and physical geography
• Geographical skills and fieldwork

Through our Geography lessons, children gain the skills necessary to:

• Collect data and analyse their results
• Use a range of sources to find information about places
• Communicate their geographical knowledge through maps, tables and writing at length

When teaching our Geography curriculum, we believe that our British Values should be entwined in our teaching and learning.  By exploring issues that affect all of our lives and shaping our world for the future we are developing our value of responsibility and respect for the world we live in.  Key issues such as deforestation, global warming and plastic pollution help explore these values in further detail.

Research suggests children are, essentially, egocentric beings. They see the world from themselves out. At DBCPS we begin each year with our geography study, including comparing local and distant locations, because children touch on a familiar setting, especially in Year 1. Furthermore the geographical concepts and vocabulary can be applied throughout the rest of the year in other units. By teaching a geography in an intensive block, children are able to learn more deeply and discover a real love of learning for a specific topic.

In EYFS we begin by looking at celebrations in our homes and communities.  Our key question revolves around what we can find out about our local area and the diversity of celebrations that occur over the year.  This is a great pathway into looking at how we celebrate within our multicultural community.

In Year 1 we introduce the concept of place and pupils investigate the question ‘What Shall I Wear Today?’.  Pupils learn the 7 continents and 5 oceans. They look at the wider world as geographers through the physical geography of weather and climate. They apply their place knowledge and knowledge of human and physical geography by learning what they would wear in contrasting world locations. By learning about the world continents, these comparisons are easier because the locations are vastly different.  Pupils look at maps of the school and local area to develop an understanding of map work and make small- and large-scale maps of real and imaginary places.  To ensure pupils know more and remember more geographical concepts are revisited throughout the year formally and informally i.e. in discussions about whether a coat is necessary for playtime, identifying the places we come from or during the science study in term 5 and 6 when pupils compare the 4 seasons.

In Year 2 we ask ‘Where should I go on holiday?’ Pupils look closer at the human and physical geography of the United Kingdom and compare Dartford and Herne Bay as holiday destinations. They build on their knowledge of the wider world by comparing coastal locations in England to coastal locations around the world such as Egypt and Jamaica. Children look at the human and physical features of a location and develop their understanding of the concept of place further.  Why do people go on holiday? What are they looking for from a holiday destination? Children’s ability to think as geographers develops as they begin to not only identify and describe what they see but reason their thoughts and feelings. This understanding of the impact of human and physical features on tourism and population will be vital when the children get to Year 5. They move from maps of the classroom to aerial photos, road maps and maps of the major features of the UK.

Year 3 geography focuses on rivers, where pupils now compare the Thames with the Amazon.  Pupils also look at the physical features of the UK by looking at rivers and the river system and how this is interconnected with the water cycle. We ask the question ‘Mighty Amazon or Lesser Thames: Are their journeys the same?’.  In tackling this question children will research and present information about the two rivers, summarising and understanding the water cycle through models, drama and technology.  When studying rivers in detail as a key physical geographical feature, pupils will build on prior knowledge, comparing the River Thames and the Amazon River, comparing the physical and human features of each area and looking at the contrasts between them. Pupils analyse this research and information and draw conclusions from the evidence, understanding geographical similarities and differences – developing higher level Key Stage 2 skills. They study larger scale maps of the world to identify a range of rivers and other features.

In Year 4 we ask ‘Who puts the beaches there?’ with the main topic being coasts. Having developed an understanding of rivers previously, children now move on to looking at coastal features with a trip to the Kentish coastline. They continue learning about the concept of interconnections looking at the human and physical features and how they are connected. They draw on their knowledge of coastal features from Year 2 and develop their understanding of the concept of change to look at how the physical features impact the human use of the land and environmental issues e.g. erosion and coastal defences, tourism, fishing etc. We link this back to the weather from Year 1 and how weather affects floods, droughts etc and begin to think about how we influence the weather system. Children learn to not only understand and explain, but even to empathise.

In Year 5 children investigate places with more emphasis on the larger scale, contrasting more distant places. They show their understanding of the concept of interconnections and begin considering ‘Why do people visit mountains and volcanoes?’ Children develop their knowledge of place, learning cities and counties of the UK before finding famous mountain ranges around the world. They use 6 figure grid references on atlases and standard Ordnance survey maps to find areas of high ground and even create their own contour maps. They learn how mountains and volcanoes are formed before learning about change and the environmental impact of tourism on mountain ranges.

In Year 6 we build on their knowledge of environmental impact and begin to look at the concept of sustainability. Children work as geographers to investigate world biomes and ask the question ‘Which world biome has been worst affected by humans?’  Children develop their understanding about global issues and how deforestation, plastic pollution and climate change can all have a fundamental impact on biomes.  They look at the concept of change and the cause and effect of man-made actions and empathise and hypothesise about future changes.  Children also independently apply the skills from all previous learning and the knowledge they have gained across the geography curriculum to explain and analyse different types of data.  By comparing and contrasting different biomes they will develop their understanding of the human impact on major environmental issues and how we can work together as a community in the world, in line with our core British Values, to protect biomes and not destroy them.