Curriculum / Geography
'The study of Geography is about more than just memorising places on a map. It's about understanding the complexity of our world, appreciating the diversity of cultures that exists across continents. And in the end, it's about using all that knowledge to help bridge divides and bring people together'
'Barak Obama'
At the Leys, through our Geography teaching, we aim to inspire children to explore not only their immediate environment but the world around them. We want to encourage children to build an interest and passion to develop their knowledge and understanding of different places; their features and their characteristics.As children grow, we strive to encourage them to become knowledgeable and active citizens of their community and the world beyond them and encourage them to know that they have an impact on the world.
The progressive geography curriculum taught at The Leys sets out clear objectives which aids and supports our vision and teaching. Children learn a variety of topics, including human and physical features of an area (locally and worldwide), cultural and environmental geography. We focus on enrichment activities which encourage an enquiry-based style of learning to allow pupils to question, investigate and think critically about the world, people and cultures around them.
Here at The Leys we focus our Geography lessons on using and building geographical skills. We have a strong focus on practical fieldwork where map skills, compass work and exploration is taught to allow pupils to explore and make sense of the world.
At the Leys we hope to equip all pupils with the skills, knowledge and ability to become independent learners who understand their world. By the end of Year 6 we we strive to ensure pupils:
Are knowledgeable about their own country and the rest of the world
Explore their surroundings, recognising changes.
Become researchers and critical thinkers about the world around them
Show a wide range of skills to expand their geographical knowledge (map skills, compass work and field work).
Food from around the world
Beside the seaside
London through the ages
Non-European countries
Rivers and mountains
Longitude, latitude, and the equator
Earthquakes and other natural disasters
Asia
Minerals
Trade
The Americas
'I like looking up things, especially where places are. Geography is like a mini adventure - it takes me around the world from the classroom'
Isla - Year 4
'Geography is about the world and learning about the history of countries'
Octavian - Year 4
'Geography is learning about features - volcanoes, mountains and rivers'
Mohammed - Year 4
'I love being creative in Geography and learning about the seas and continents'
Ahmad - Year 2
'Geography is about the world and I like drawing maps'
Obrimpong - Year 2
'Geography is learning about countries, the world and the different things that happen'
Brayden - Year 5
'I like that we do independent research and make posters about the cultures of countries'
Rebecca - Year 5
'I love learning new things in Geography such as Trade, imports and exports'
Olive - Year 5
International Week 2023
October 2022 - Year 6 local walk to look at and discuss land use around our area.
www.bbc.co.uk/weather
Television broadcasters' geography sites, up to date weather forecasts
www.bbc.co.uk/schools/barnabybear
Activities, games and stories about Barnaby Bear's travels for KS1
www.news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/world/default.stm
Newsround UK current events
www.news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/uk
KS2 geography support materials
https://www.schoolgen.co.nz
(Interesting website from New Zealand: links Geography to Science topics)
The children’s section has many useful facts, activities and animations and includes sections on: air, energy, land, climate change, people and lifestyles, resources and waste, water and wildlife.
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/fun/?lang=_e
An introduction for key stage 2 on how maps work and how to interpret them. It includes these 8 sections: starting mapping, symbols, compasses and directions, grid references, understanding scale, measuring distance, relief and contour lines and compass bearings.
http://mapzone.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/mapzone/index.html
Local street maps including a ‘find my nearest’ function, which can be used to locate features e.g. schools, list them and link them to a map.
http://www.upmystreet.co.uk/
Search for local street maps by postcode, OS grid reference, place name or street name. Maps are extendable in eight compass directions.
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/
Online mapping site which includes eye level 'Streetview'
http://maps.google.co.uk/
Maps resized to show population sizes, income, etc.
http://www.worldmapper.org/
Distant locationsVery child-friendly site for understanding development issues.
http://www.globaleye.org.uk/
Excellent site for global citizenship issues. Children’s pages include details of the history, geography and environment, people and society and a fact file for 14 countries), ‘children’ (exploring the lives of children in less developed countries) and ‘food’ (issues such as farming and fair trade).
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/coolplanet/kidsweb/index.htm
Includes a range of resources for information supporting distant locality studies.
http://www.actionaid.org.uk