Geography
At Ford Primary, we believe that Geography helps to provoke and answer questions about the natural and human
world, encouraging children to develop a greater understanding of the world and their place and responsibilities within
it. Geography helps children to develop a range of investigation and problem-solving skills that are transferable to
other curriculum areas and which can be used to promote children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.
Geography is, by nature, an investigative subject, which develops an understanding of concepts, knowledge and skills
and feeds a child’s natural curiosity. We seek to inspire in children curiosity and fascination about the world in which
they live, and its people, which will remain with them for the rest of their lives; to promote children’s interest and
understanding about local and diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with
an understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes. We aim to ensure children are aware of topical
geographical issues, the importance of sustainability and human action upon our world and equipped with this
knowledge debate and make decisions about how they chose to live.
Emphasis is placed on investigative learning opportunities to help children gain a coherent knowledge
and understanding of each unit of work covered throughout the school. We make use of the outdoors in delivering
our geography curriculum. Each topic covered begins with, and revisits, important vocabulary that children need to
have an understanding of to be secure in their geographical understanding. We frequently make cross-curricular links
when delivering our geography curriculum therefore maximising learning possibilities. Visits to places within and
beyond the locality are used to develop children's understanding of the world in which they live, the 'far away' places
are studied using online research and atlases and by making links with other countries.
Through the framework of the 2014 National Curriculum, geography taught at Ford Primary School, aims to ensure
that all children:
- develop age-appropriate, accurate knowledge of the location, physical and human characteristics of a wide range of globally significant places including terrestrial and marine locations
- to use this knowledge to provide a geographical context to study and understand the actions of important geographical processes
- understand that these processes give rise to the key physical and human geographical features of the world, how these are interdependent and how they bring about variation and change to the geographical landscape
- to be able to use geographical vocabulary which is appropriate and accurate and which develops and evolves from EYFS to KS1 and through to KS2
- collect, analyse and present a range of data, gathered through experiences of fieldwork, to deepen understanding of geographical processes
- use and interpret a wide range of sources of geographical information, including maps, diagrams, globes and aerial photographs
- develop skills in Geographical Information Systems (GIS) (software and interactive resources) which allow for digital mapping, analysis of data and data models
- are able to communicate geographical information in a variety of ways, including through maps, numerical and quantitative skills and writing at length
- to promote children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development helping them to have a greater understanding of their place in the world, and their rights and responsibilities to other people and the environment
Impact
Through the geography curriculum delivered at Ford Primary, we strive to create a supportive and collaborative ethos
for learning by providing investigative and enquiry based learning opportunities. We aim for our children to develop a
greater understanding of their immediate locality as well as an understanding that we live in one small part of the
world, a world which is very diverse in terms of both people and places. Children will leave our school with
an understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes and how this affects landscapes and
environments. It is our aim that the geography curriculum taught at Ford Primary equips children with key knowledge
and skills, as set out in the National Curriculum, but also with a sense of awareness of themselves as people within a
wide world and the impact that they, as people, can have upon the world in which they live. We track progress and
attainment through WTS, ARE and GDS.
River Journeys
Link to the Geography programme of study:
All website content copyright © Ford Primary School
Unique Websites for Unique Schools by PrimarySite