Geography
When teaching geography at Shaw Cross we have a strong emphasis on children understanding where they are from, recognising the facilities and features of their own locality and how this shapes their community. Through this we aim to develop children’s sense of belonging within their own community and within the wider global context.
In foundation stage this involves guiding children to make sense of their physical environment and community through observing and exploring. They develop their geographical skills through ‘the world’ aspect of the understanding the world strand of the EYFS curriculum. Much of their work is based upon personal experience by focussing on their own immediate environment, and noticing, naming and exploring the things they observe. Opportunities are then created for them to look at similarities and differences and to compare to other environments.
The Key Stage One curriculum helps children to develop the curiosity and fascination for the world that has been established in the foundation stage. They develop a greater understanding and awareness of the diverse nature of the world, created through both the natural and man-made environments. They begin to consider the relationship between physical and human processes, the impact that this has on the environment and how this causes changes over time. Within this children continually develop the use of subject-specific vocabulary. Children enhance their awareness of location through the use of maps, atlases and internet sources. This enables them to understand where they belong both within a UK and a global context.
Throughout school, children have the opportunity to immerse themselves in a variety of learning opportunities to secure their knowledge of places, processes and geographical skills. In a current climate where global issues are at the forefront of world-wide thinking, we facilitate learning where children can consider the impact that humans are having on the environment and enable them to establish an early understanding of the role they can play in protecting the future of the planet. Where possible, we make the most of our extensive school grounds and local geographical work is based on fieldwork. We supplement this through carefully planned educational visits to provide children with first hand experiences and enhance their geographical understanding.
We ensure all children have access to the content of the EYFS curriculum and the National Curriculum for geography.
Click here for the EYFS curriculum.
Click here for the Key Stage One curriculum (year 1 and 2).