Geography
Geography
At Stonehill School we want children to be naturally curious about the world around them. Our Geography curriculum aims to promote this curiosity and ensures full coverage of the National Curriculum. Teaching should equip pupils with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes.
Our aim is to ensure children:
- Have a broad understanding of the world around them.
- Have developed enquiry skills that can be used to make sense of the world around them.
- Have the knowledge and skills to access further employment opportunities linked to Geography.
At Stonehill School we aim to teach Geography through interesting, engaging lessons to inspire children with a fascination about the world.
We intend to do this by:
- Ensuring our children have access to a high quality Geography curriculum that clearly covers all aspects the curriculum.
- Providing a stimulating, challenging and engaging learning environment.
- Ensuring children are curious about the area of Geography that is being taught and who are not afraid to ask questions and investigate them.
- Fully developing independent learners with inquisitive minds who have secure knowledge and enquiry skills and a keen interest in expanding this knowledge throughout their lives.
Geography Topics
All geography projects are taught in the autumn and spring terms, with opportunities for pupils to revisit less secure concepts in the summer term.
Autumn Term Geography Topics
Year 1 - Our Wonderful World | This essential skills and knowledge project teaches children about physical and human features, maps, cardinal compass points, and positional and directional language. They learn about the equator, hemispheres and continents and are introduced to the countries, capital cities and settlements of the United Kingdom. The children carry out simple fieldwork to find out about local physical and human features. |
Year 2 - Let's Explore the World | This essential skills and knowledge project teaches children about atlases, maps and cardinal compass points. They learn about the characteristics of the four countries of the United Kingdom and find out why there are hot, temperate and cold places around the world. They also compare England to Somalia. Children carry out fieldwork, collecting primary data in their locality to answer geographical questions. |
Year 3 - One Planet, Our World | This essential skills and knowledge project teaches children to locate countries and cities, and use grid references, compass points and latitude and longitude. They learn about the layers of the Earth and plate tectonics and discover the five major climate zones. They learn about significant places in the United Kingdom and carry out fieldwork to discover how land is used in the locality. |
Year 4 - Interconnected World | This essential skills and knowledge project teaches children about compass points and four and six-figure grid references. They learn about the tropics and the countries, climates and culture of North and South America. Children identify physical features in the United Kingdom and learn about the National Rail and canal networks. They conduct an enquiry to prove a hypothesis, gathering data from maps and surveys before drawing conclusions. |
Year 5 - Investigating Our World | This essential skills and knowledge project teaches children about locating map features using a range of methods. They learn about the Prime Meridian, Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), and worldwide time zones and study interconnected climate zones, vegetation belts and biomes. Children learn about human geography and capital cities worldwide before looking at the UK motorway network and settlements. They carry out an enquiry to identify local settlement types. |
Year 6 - Our Changing World | This essential skills and knowledge project revises the features of Earth, time zones and lines of latitude and longitude to pinpoint places on a map. Children find out more about map scales, grid references, contour lines and map symbols. They learn about climate change and the importance of global trade. Children analyse data and carry out fieldwork to find out about local road safety. They study patterns of human settlements and carry out an enquiry to describe local settlement patterns. |
Spring Term Geography Topics
Year 1 - Bright Lights, Big City | This project teaches children about the physical and human characteristics of the United Kingdom, including a detailed exploration of the characteristics and features of the capital city, London. |
Coastline | This project teaches children about the physical and human features of coastal regions across the United Kingdom, including a detailed exploration of the coastal town of Whitby, in Yorkshire. |
Year 3 - Rocks, Relics and Rumbles | This project teaches children about the features and characteristics of Earth's layers, including a detailed exploration of volcanic, tectonic and seismic activity. |
Year 4 - Misty Mountain, Winding River | This project teaches children about the characteristics and features of rivers and mountain ranges around the world, including a detailed exploration of the ecosystems and processes that shape them and the land around them. |
Year 5 - Sow, Grow and Farm | This project teaches children about the features and characteristics of land use in agricultural regions across the world, including a detailed exploration of significant environmental areas. |
Year 6 - Frozen Kingdoms | This project teaches children about the characteristics and features of polar regions, including the North and South Poles, and includes a detailed exploration of the environmental factors that shape and influence them. |
Year 2 - 
