Geography Statement of Intent

At Knightlow Primary School, Geography lays an important foundation, informing and preparing children for their future in our global community. Our Geography curriculum is designed to develop children’s understanding, fascination and respect for the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives, underpinned by our Christian values and wonder at God’s creation.

Through knowledge, first hand experiences and skill based learning the children experience their local environment and issues that affect the wider world.

The curriculum is taught discretely, but also interwoven through different cross-curricular topics. The key skills are revisited and embedded as the children progress through our school.

In Key Stage 1 children will develop their knowledge about the United Kingdom and their own locality. They’ll learn how to use maps, atlases and globes as well as learn simple compass directions. The children will also study seasonal and daily weather patterns in the United Kingdom and look at the hot and cold areas of the world in relation to the equator and the North and South Poles.

In Key Stage 2 the children will look to extend their knowledge beyond their local area and will study Europe as well as North and South America. They will  look at similarities and differences of human geography such as types of settlement and land use. They will also study physical geography elements such as climate zones, rivers, mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes. Children will continue to use maps, atlases and globes and will use the 8 points of the compass in their work. They will start to  use of four and six figure grid references and ordinance survey maps.

Principles of Geography Planning 

Knightlow uses the Prospectus planning framework as a starting point for implementing National Curriculum requirements. The variety of themes enthuses the staff and pupils alike and includes such titles as Wild Water, Extreme Survival, Indian Spice and Get Out of my Swamp, placing Georgraphy in a topic-based context and allowing lots of scope for creative and active learning.

The syllabus allows for Geography to be taught through drama, individual research, stories and experiments and these techniques encourage the children to learn independently and creatively, giving a new slant to investigating geographical ideas.

Lots of practical observation and fieldwork are embedded in our Geography curriculum, alongside planned educational visits and residential experiences that offer the opportunity to develop the children's understanding even further.

Geography in Action

The stories4schools project is embedded into our school curriculum and has worked in partnership with schools in Malawi, Uganda, Zambia, India, France and Spain, as well as schools closer to home in the UK. The project has been a fantastic vehicle  to develop our Geography knowledge, skills and global awareness. Our latest project 'Journey Through Europe' involved every class focusing on a country, using map work, learning about the climate, culture and traditions and using Traditional Tales and Folktales from those countries to inspire our own stories. Below are some examples of work done.

Village in a Shoe Box Competition

This term, we held a Village in a Box competition. Children were challenged to use their fieldwork skills to create where they lived in a box. We had several wonderful entries!