Geography

‘A high-quality geography education should inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives.’

The Primary National Curriculum Framework 2014

Aims

At The Abbey CE VA Primary School, our geography curriculum is designed to spark curiosity and deepen children’s understanding of the world around them. Through the Kapow Primary scheme, we provide a progressive and engaging geography education that helps pupils explore the physical and human processes shaping our planet.

Our aims are to:

• Develop locational knowledge by introducing children to countries, continents, oceans and significant geographical features.
• Build an understanding of place, encouraging children to compare their local area with places across the UK and the wider world.
• Explore human and physical processes, including natural phenomena, land use and settlement patterns.
• Develop geographical skills such as map reading, using atlases and globes, gathering and interpreting fieldwork data, and presenting information in a range of ways.
• Encourage environmental responsibility, helping pupils understand how human actions impact the Earth and why sustainable choices matter.

Through enquiry-led lessons, we nurture inquisitive, informed and responsible young citizens who can make sense of an ever-changing world.

How We Teach Geography

Geography at The Abbey is taught through the Kapow Primary scheme, ensuring a coherent and carefully sequenced curriculum from Early Years to Year 6. Each unit builds on prior learning, allowing children to make meaningful connections as their knowledge and skills deepen.

Lessons are practical, engaging and rooted in enquiry. Children are encouraged to ask thoughtful questions, investigate real-world issues and work collaboratively to reach conclusions. Teachers make use of a wide variety of resources – maps, atlases, digital tools, photographs and fieldwork opportunities – to bring geography to life.

We also draw on our local environment, using fieldwork activities to help pupils apply geographical skills in authentic contexts. This hands-on approach enables children to develop independence, curiosity and confidence as young geographers.

What Skills and Knowledge Will Your Child Learn?

Throughout their time at The Abbey, children develop a secure and progressively detailed understanding of:

• Locational knowledge: naming and locating continents, oceans, countries, cities and key physical features.
• Place knowledge: comparing and contrasting local, regional and global places, understanding similarities, differences and unique characteristics.
• Human geography: learning about population, land use, economic activity and how humans interact with their environment.
• Physical geography: exploring weather patterns, climate, rivers, volcanoes, coasts and other natural features.
• Geographical skills and fieldwork: using maps, compasses, grid references, digital mapping tools, data collection techniques and observational skills to investigate the world.
  
  

By Upper Key Stage 2, pupils will have developed:

By the time children reach Upper Key Stage 2, they will have a secure and mature understanding of geographical concepts, underpinned by strong enquiry skills and a growing sense of global responsibility. They will have developed:

• Confident locational knowledge, being able to accurately identify a wide range of countries, major cities, continents, oceans and significant physical features, as well as understanding their relationships and positions on different scales of maps.
• A deeper understanding of place, comparing regions of the UK with contrasting regions around the world, recognising how culture, climate, resources and human activity shape different environments.
• Awareness of complex human and physical processes, including climate zones, biomes, migration, trade, natural hazards and changes over time, and how these processes influence people’s lives.
• Advanced geographical skills, such as interpreting a variety of maps, analysing data from fieldwork and presenting findings through written reports, diagrams and digital tools.
• Critical thinking and enquiry skills, enabling them to ask perceptive questions, draw reasoned conclusions and evaluate different sources of information.
• A strong sense of environmental stewardship, understanding global challenges such as climate change and sustainability and reflecting on their own role in caring for the world.

These skills prepare pupils for the demands of secondary geography and help them become informed, thoughtful and responsible global citizens.

By following Kapow’s structured progression, pupils build knowledge and skills year on year, developing a firm foundation for future learning and a lifelong interest in geography.