Farnham Common Village Schools Aims and Objectives
The aims of teaching Geography at Farnham Common Village Schools
- To develop pupils’ knowledge and understanding of a wide variety of geographical locations around the world, such as continents, countries, cities and oceans.
- To develop pupils’ knowledge and understanding of physical features (e.g. beach, coast, forest, mountain, river, season) and human characteristics (e.g. town, village, factory, farm, house).
- To experience Geography through first hand experiences where relevant: visitors, trips, fieldwork, artefacts and photographs.
- To learn and respect the lifestyles and cultures of other people.
- To develop pupils’ knowledge and understanding of environmental change, care for the planet and sustainable living. This is also reinforced through the work of the Infant school’s Eco Council and the Junior school’s Eco Club.
National Curriculum for Geography
EYFS
Geography should be taught in EYFS as an integral part of the topic work covered during the year through the teaching of Understanding the World. Throughout EYFS, children will gain experiences through talking about the features of their own immediate environment and how environments may vary from one another.
KS1
Pupils should develop knowledge about the world, the United Kingdom and their locality. They should understand basic subject-specific vocabulary and begin to use geographical skills.
Pupils should be taught to:
- Develop locational knowledge: name and locate continents and oceans; name, locate and identify characteristics of the countries and capital cities of the UK and its seas
- Develop place knowledge: understand geographical similarities and differences of a small area of the UK and of a contrasting non-European country
- Understand human and physical geography: identify seasonal and daily weather patterns in the UK and the location of hot and cold areas of the world; use basic geographical vocabulary to refer to key physical features and key human features
- Use geographical skills and fieldwork: use world maps, atlases and globes; use simple compass directions and locational and directional language; use aerial photographs; devise a simple map and construct basic symbols in a key; use observational skills to study the geography of their school and its surrounding environment.
KS2
Pupils should extend their knowledge and understanding beyond the local area, including the location and characteristics of a range of the world’s most significant human and physical features. They should continue to develop their use of geographical knowledge, understanding and skills to enhance their locational and place knowledge.
Pupils should be taught to:
- Enhance locational knowledge: locate countries, with a focus on Europe, North and South America; within the UK, to identify human and physical characteristics, key topographical features and land-use patterns and how some of these aspects have changed over time; identify latitude, longitude, Equator, Northern Hemisphere, Southern Hemisphere, the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, Arctic and Antarctic Circle, the Prime/Greenwich Meridian and time zone
- Further develop place knowledge: understand similarities and differences through the study of human and physical geography of a region of the UK, a region in a European country, and a region within North or South America
- Consolidate their understanding of human and physical geography: describe and understand key aspects of physical geography (e.g. climate zones, biomes, volcanoes, earthquakes and the water cycle) and human geography (e.g. types of settlement and land use, economic activity, and the distribution of natural resources)
- Use geographical skills and fieldwork: use maps, atlases, globes and digital/computer mapping; use the eight points of a compass, four and six-figure grid references, symbols and key; use fieldwork to observe, measure, record and present the human and physical features in the local area