Geography

We are Geographers!

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​Aim

At Thurcroft Infants we aim to inspire a curiosity and fascination within our children about the wider world around them and their place within it. We use the EYFS and National Curriculum guidance and meaningful experiences to introduce our children to fundamental geographical concepts in a hands-on, enquiry-based way.

We want to foster a curiosity in our children about the world, both near and far. This is done in a way that helps them to develop an awareness of their immediate environment right from when the start with us in F1. We introduce basic geographical vocabulary and lay the foundations for understanding places, people, environments and natural phenomena. This enables our children to develop the skills they need to explore and ask questions to deepen their geographical knowledge.

Curriculum design

Our geography curriculum is designed to ensure that children learn about their local environment, community as well as the wider world around them. The children visit a lot of the world during their time at Thurcroft Infants!

Geography is taught through a mix of integrated and geography-led topics that inspire and develop children’s natural curiosity. Our curriculum design includes both substantive and disciplinary elements and topics are planned using enquiry questions so that, along with the new substantive learning that is introduced with each enquiry, the disciplinary concepts and skills can be revisited, refreshed and rehearsed by our children in a progressive way that allows them to learn key knowledge and practise the skills needed to be successful geographers. The aim of this is to support the shift or learning from the children’s ‘working’ to their ‘long-term’ memory.

We have developed a progressive geography curriculum that is relevant to our children and builds up over time, supported by geographical resources such as maps, atlases, globes, diagrams and aerial photographs wherever possible.

Curriculum delivery

At Thurcroft Infants our children study one geography topic per term in order to keep geography fresh over the course of the year. Geography learning is cross-curricular, eg, incorporating history, literacy and art as appropriate in order to support connections across subject areas.

All classes produce a curriculum floor book containing evidence of geography learning in each class and how geography is accessed by the children. This provides an invaluable tool for the children to look back on independently to discuss previous learning and gives handy reminders of practical learning that did not produce written evidence.

In the EYFS, our geography learning begins with ‘Understanding the World’. Our children are encouraged to be as practical and ‘hands-on’ as possible in their exploration of their immediate environment, including simple fieldwork activities to explore the outdoor area, such as seasonal investigation walks and minibeast hunts. An element of maths is included with the introduction and use of positional language right from the start, as the children explore their new classroom at the start of the year. We also include map work as children search for farm animals in our outdoor area. Learning is designed to be sensory and engaging, focussing on immediate, tangible aspects of geography that are relevant to our children.

We share poems and texts (fiction and non-fiction) that from an early age help our children to begin to understand concepts such as sustainability, interconnections and physical and human processes in terms of their own life and family experiences. Children will learn about growing and caring for living things such as chicks, caterpillars and plants and are introduced to countries from around the world in an age-appropriate way. Children can also explore different countries and environments in practical ways, eg, an Arctic set-up in the small world area.

In KS1 our children will build on their Early Years experiences and deepen their understanding of life in different countries, gaining more thorough questioning skills and becoming more analytical thinkers.

They will study countries and continents, including Antarctica, Australia, Kenya and China in greater detail. They will also develop more in-depth knowledge about the United Kingdom, including their local area, the countries of the United Kingdom and a capital city study. The children visit Filey to learn more about what it is like to live by the coast and to deepen their knowledge around sustainability. The children undertake fieldwork within the local area, including sound mapping and traffic surveys. Learning is adapted to ensure it is accessible to all of our children.

Impact

Our approach at Thurcroft Infants produces children who are excited and motivated to explore, question and compare life in different countries. They have a strong sense of their own identity and are interested in the world around them. By the end of each school year children will have made good progress in all areas, meaning they are able to move on to the next stage in their learning. They will be able to share their knowledge of countries from around the world and concepts such as change & diversity and physical & human processes, discussing and making comparisons in a relevant and age-appropriate way. Children will be able to talk enthusiastically about their geography learning, confidently and eagerly sharing their understanding about this learning.

Our children leave Thurcroft Infants with transferrable skills and are well-equipped and prepared for the next stage of their learning and beyond.