Geography

Intent 

At Anston Park Infant School we aim to promote enjoyment of geography and develop children’s curiosity and interest in learning about the world around them. By delivering a broad, balanced and inclusive curriculum we will ignite children’s passion for geography and ensure they learn key geographical concepts, knowledge skills and vocabulary. Geography at Anston Park Infant school should enable children to learn about our local community and how it is similar and different to other places in the world. Furthermore we aim to develop and broaden children’s knowledge about the wider global community and help them to learn how people in other areas of the world live.

Geography teaching at Anston Park Infant school will consist of 4 key areas:

Locational knowledge- Pupils will be provided with a variety of opportunities to learn about where places are located both here in the U.K and within the wider world. Pupils will also learn to name some main towns and cities in the U.K aswell as learning to name the 7 continents and 5 oceans in the World.

Place Knowledge- Pupils will learn to describe our local area and discuss how this is different to another place within the U.K; they will then build on this knowledge and compare our local area with a non-European country.

Human and Physical Geography- Children will learn the differences between human and physical geography and learn to discuss differences in weather within the world and how this affects human activity in these areas.

Geographical skills and fieldwork- Children will be able to understand and use the appropriate geographical vocabulary related to different topics. Children will be given a variety of opportunities to use maps, atlases and globes to identify different areas of the U.K and to identify the world’s continents and oceans. Children will also have hands on opportunities to use compasses.

In the Early Years Foundation Stage the children will learn about the world around them through play based, hands on experiences. We will ensure they regularly make use of the outdoor area in school as well as the local community to enable them to learn about how the features of our local area and how this varies from other areas. Children will be encouraged to comment and ask questions about the place where they live. We will encourage the children to take care of our local area by learning about recycling, planting and growth.

Implementation 

At Anston Park Infant School all geography lessons will be well planned and differentiated to ensure they are accessible to children are all abilities. Staff will plan a variety of opportunities for children to work outdoors both within the school grounds and in the local area. Where appropriate trips to different locations will be planned so that children can practise their geographical skills and extend their knowledge.  Assemblies focusing on different countries will be planned and delivered to the children to widen their knowledge about different parts of the world. Staff will ensure they provide lots of opportunities for the children to discuss geographical concepts with their peers. During geography lessons children’s thinking and understanding will be challenged by thoughtful questioning that will encourage them to think deeply about concepts that are being discussed.  Where in the World boards will be located in all classrooms and updated regularly, these boards enable children to research current events that are happening in the world at home and share and disucss these in class with their peers.

Impact

 At the end of each year group all children will have made progress in all areas of geography and will have moved onto the next level in their learning . This will be evidenced by the children’s ability to confidently demonstrate key geographical skills and use topic related vocabulary when discussing different geographical concepts. When asked by SLT or the Geography subject leader children will talk enthusiastically and confidently about the geography lessons at Anston Park Infant school and will be able to share the knowledge and skills they have learnt.  Children will demonstrate a solid understanding of location and place and they will confidently be able to compare different places they have studied. They will understand about physical features and processes in geography and have an understanding of how humans can impact these physical features.