In our school we encourage children to gain an awareness of the world around them and to think about the effect people have upon it. Skills are taught progressively from Reception to year 6, with opportunities for children to build on and embed their learning.
Geography is planned and delivered at Key Stage 1 (years one and two) in line with the National Curriculum. Geography is taught using a variety of resources and experiences, including using maps, photographs, visits, artefacts, books, the internet, using our school grounds and visitors.
Reception children are given opportunities to develop their knowledge about the world through child centred and play led learning activities, including use of the outdoor environment. This is part of the Understanding the World area of The Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. Staff respond swiftly to the children’s own child initiated learning experiences, interacting in a way which moves learning forwards for all learners. Understanding the World activities are also planned as part of the teaching sequence, which all children will be involved in.
Autumn Term Geography
Reception
Reception children have been very busy exploring their immediate environment, including talking about animals and plants in their outdoor area, which is known as ‘Ted’s Den’. They have also observed seasonal changes to the weather and the trees.
During independent learning time, Reception children have developed their sense of place by discussing the maps and leaflets in class.
Year one
Year one have been learning about animals and how they adapt to their region. This built on from work in reception when they studied the topic ‘Around the world’.
Year two
Year two children have been locating significant landmarks in Norwich and comparing old and new landmarks. Work included using google maps.
Geography Summer term 2023
Reception
During the first half of the summer term, reception children created a class story map from Jack and the Beanstalk. They also had the opportunity to create their own story maps.
A part of the topic ‘Around the World’, Reception children have been learning about maps and plans. They began the topic by looking at a plan of our school, then created a whole class plan of the classroom. They used google maps to find our school and familiar places in the local community, then explored further afield. One child decided to search for the North Pole as he believed he might find Santa’s house. During independent learning time, some children chose to create their own maps. The children develop their sense of place and knowledge of countries over the term.
Year 1
Year one children learnt about Norfolk and their local area. They looked at a map of Norfolk and had a great discussion of places they had visited and where they would like to go. The children were given riddles and had to work out places that could be located on a map. The children had an in depth conversation about the physical features of these places and if they had visited them before.
Year one children also created maps of Holkham Hall, following on from their visit.
Year 2
Year two studied the topic “Art around the world” in spring 2 and the first half of the summer term. They continued to build on knowledge of Antarctica from year one, considering how humans and animals survive in the environment. Sessions also included finding out about Africa, Australasia, South and North America, and Egypt.
Year two also developed their compass skills in the school grounds.
Geography Infants Spring 2023
Reception
During the topic “People Who Help Us” children found out about the jobs of members in our community, including dentists, firefighters, paramedics and police officers.
They also got to interview a bus driver driver and take a ride on the bus around Toftwood and Dereham.
Year 1
As part of their topic “Weather Experts”, year one children studied the weather in our school grounds; they identified daily and seasonal weather patterns in the locality. They also learnt about climate zones. Examples below demonstrate their learning about the weather on retrieval grids.
The children learnt how to use a compass and completed orienteering activities in the school grounds.
In the second part of the spring term, year one children were introduced to the names of the seven continents and 5 oceans.
The children also worked on finding out about a country.
Year 2
Year two children named and located the UK’s four countries and capital cities; they named the seas surrounding the UK. The children worked on naming the seven continents and five oceans. This will prepare them for detailed work on the continents later in the year.
Geography Autumn 2 2022
Walks in our Local Area
Reception children went on a walk to the post box, in order to post their letters to Santa. Children talked about the places they knew as we walked around. Here are some of their quotes:
“There’s the nursery where I went to.”
“I live down there.”
“We’re a bit near the social club, it’s a pub…I’ve been there.”
“Tawny Owls and Barn Owls is through there, my sister little sister goes there.”
“I live a bit that way, and my granny lives that way.”
Year one also went on a walk around Toftwood. They were then able to use knowledge gained to make comparisons with other places.
Geography Autumn 2022
Reception
Reception children have been very busy exploring their immediate environment, including talking about animals and plants in their outdoor area, which is known as ‘Ted’s Den’.
Year one
Year one have been learning about animals and how they adapt to their region. This built on from work in reception when they studied the topic Around the world.
Year two
Year two children have been locating significant landmarks in Norwich and comparing old and new landmarks. Work included using google maps.
What do we know about Norwich?
An example of home learning linked to Norwich.
Geography Summer term 2022
Reception
Reception children created a class story map from Jack and the Beanstalk. They also had the opportunity to create their own story maps.
As part of the platinum jubilee celebrations, reception children went on a scavenger hunt to find items that the Queen’s corgis had hidden around the school grounds. “Those corgis are sneaky hiding necklace under there,” one child commented. “It was so much fun finding the Queen’s stuff,” another child said. They also learnt about the union jack and had fun making their own flags.
The topic for summer 2 in Reception is Around the World. Children study a selection of countries, over the half term, including Antarctica and Europe.
Year 2
Year two studied the topic “Art around the world” in spring 2, and the first half of the summer term. Sessions included finding out about Africa, Australasia, South and North America, Asia and Europe. When focussing on Australasia, children worked in groups to create Haka dances.
In the second half of the summer term, year two also explored using a compass.
Geography Spring 2022 – Infant
Reception
During the topic “People Who Help Us” children found out about the jobs of members in our community, including firefighters, paramedics and police officers. A member from the RSPCA also visited to discuss animal welfare.
As part of work on space, reception children found out about astronauts.
Year 1
As part of their topic “Weather Experts”, year one children studied the weather in our school grounds; they identified daily and seasonal weather patterns in the locality. They also looked at hot and cold countries.
The children learnt how to use a compass and completed orienteering activities in the school grounds.
They looked at a variety of maps, including maps of Dereham, then designed their own map with a key.
In the second part of the spring term, year one children were introduced to the names of the seven continents and 5 oceans.
Year 2
Year two children named and located the UK’s four countries and capital cities; they named the seas surrounding the UK. The children worked on naming the seven continents and five oceans. This will prepare them for detailed work on the continents later in the year.
As part of their topic “Air, Land and Sea”, year two children completed retrieval work on what a globe is.
Geography Autumn 2021
Reception
Reception children have been very busy exploring their immediate environment, including talking about animals and plants in their outdoor area, which is known as ‘Ted’s Den’.
Individuals have been curious about where they live. They have used google maps to find out more about our area and how far we live from Norwich.
Year one
Year one have been learning about animals and how they adapt to their region. This built on from work in reception when they studied the topic Around the world.
The year one classes have learnt about Antarctica and studied Greenland. They discussed how they thought people survived in cold climates. The children thought about the clothing and shelter required to keep people safe in cold weather. They focused on the Inuit people, their diet, modes of transport and hobbies. The children were intrigued and thought about the similarities and differences between their lifestyles and the lifestyles of the Inuit people.
Year Two
Year two children have been locating significant landmarks in Norwich and comparing old and new landmarks. Work included using google maps.
An example of home learning in year 2.
Geography Spring 2021
EYFS
As part of their topic on animals, the children have explored the animals living in a variety of environments including the seashore, farm and jungle. Activities included using the tuff tray and books.
The children have used our outside area to find out about the plants and animals living in our locality. We talked about the birds living around us, during an online assembly linked to the RSPB Big Bird Watch.
In Year 1 the children have been Weather Watchers and have been learning all about types of weather and climate in different parts of the world. They created their own weather forecast on a map of the UK. They have learnt how a tornado works and listened to a BBC weather forecaster telling them all about his job. Year one explored places using Google maps. The children used their prior learning about maps to create their own maps with a key and symbols.
Year two have been learning to locate places on globes and maps, progressing with their map work skills from year one. They have been naming and locating the world’s seven continents and the oceans. The children selected a country and found out additional information about it including key landmarks, weather and flags. They looked at, and discussed a selection of objects from around the world and matched these up to the correct continent on a map.
We support and encourage children to gain an awareness of the world around them and to think about the effect people have upon it. We aim to involve children in investigative and problem solving activities. We give them opportunities to ask questions and find out the answers through research. As a school, we use a range of resources to stimulate the children, including maps, photographs, DVDS, artefacts, books and the internet. We also believe in using people and their experiences as a resource, for example Year 3 visit Banham Zoo, Year 4 travel to an outdoor geographical location and Year 5 are planning to visit the Broads as part of their local study in the Summer term. We ensure that children have opportunities to experience the subject in a variety of forms: – written, artistic, dramatic. For example, Year 4 children explore the local area including the school grounds and Year 5 have had an afternoon of outdoor activities to learn the 16 points of the compass In the past year, Goldcrest have worked with Year 6 on surviving outdoors by building dens and outdoor cooking using fire pits. Road safety awareness is taught to Years 5 and 6 through Cycling Proficiency.
Children are assessed through observation, questioning, and recorded work as appropriate.
Geography Year 5 Autumn 1
Year 5 have been learning about earthquakes and plate tectonics. This builds nicely on their prior learning of mountains and volcanoes in Year 4; they started the topic developing their retrieval skills, to enable them to build on this knowledge. They then represented their learning in an A3 spread, like the example shown below.
Geography Toftwood Junior
Year 5 have been studying recycling and the environment with cross curricular links with DT and history. We started by considering recycling in the past; Victorian finds, war years, through to the present day.
We have looked at the use and misuse of plastics where we have considered sustainability. In DT we communicated our concerns for plastics in the ocean, by creating sewn wall hangings.
We have also included new content to our curriculum where we have been finding out about renewable and non- renewable energies.
Geography Spring Term 2023
This half term, year 4 have been working on a very exciting cross-curricular project. The children have been using their geographical knowledge of maps and mountains alongside their scientific knowledge of electrical circuits to create electrical board games! They have put a lot of thought into the bright, eye catching design of their games and we have discussed how important it is for our “wires” (made from foil and masking tape) not to cross over so that the circuits are complete and the games works properly. The children have loved researching different mountains in Europe and then plotting them on their maps. Some of them were surprised to learn about the mountains we had in the United Kingdom!
Year 5 enjoyed studying South America. They started by recapping the map work and atlas skills, familiarising themselves with continents, oceans, then of countries within South America. Using globes, they were fascinated with the scale of the UK compared to South America. The children learnt about the Amazon River and other natural and man-made features. They took part in a deforestation debate, taking on the roles of various departments to get a balanced argument from different perspectives.
This unit was enhanced by linking our recount writing in Literacy, where the children learnt about the life of a child who lives in the rainforest, and the impact and threat that deforestation has on community.
This term in geography, year 6 have been learning about the continent of North America We have identified the countries that make up North America and used maps to create 3D models of the state of Hawaii. We identified the features of Hawaii that were natural and man-made and recreated one of the islands that create the state. Each group made a different island.
We have also learnt about trade and the sort of products that the UK import and export. We played a trading game to highlight the inequalities of trade between rich and developing countries, and how Fair Trade helps to support farmers in less well-off countries.
Geography Autumn Term 2022
In Year 3, we spent the first half of the Autumn term going ‘Around the World’, revising our Year 2 knowledge on continents and oceans, before learning about places in the UK. We learnt about different settlements such as cities, towns and villages. We compared two cities (Norwich and Birmingham) plus extended our maps skills by learning about grid references.
In the second half term, our main focus was history, but we learnt about where Egypt was on a map and located seas, deserts and major cities and landmarks.
Year 5 learnt about earthquakes, building on their knowledge in year 3 of the Ring of Fire and volcanoes. They learnt about Tectonic Plates, where they are located and the evidence that was discovered to explain why the continents have moved to their current position. We discussed how to stay safe during an earthquake as well as looked at websites that show current activity around the world.
Geography Autumn Term 2022
Year 3
Year 3 began the year by recapping their year 2 learning about the continents of the world and the countries in the UK.
We learnt about the different types of modern day settlements: villages, towns and cities. Listing what might be found in each type.
We then compared the cities of Birmingham and Norwich. After that, we located and identified human and physical landmarks in Europe and then the world. We also looked at ordnance survey map symbols and created out own to identify our landmarks.
Year 5
Year 5 have been learning about earthquakes in Year 5. We learnt about the different plates which float and move on the earth’s mantle.
We made our own jigsaws by cutting around the plate boundaries and seeing if we could put them back together using our knowledge of the continents. We researched the scales used to measure earthquakes and learned about Charles Richter and Giuseppe Mercalli. We also learned about how to prepare for an earthquake, what to do in an earthquake and deal with the aftermath.
Many children across the school entered a competition as part of Breckland Council’s Environment Month in November. Lots of children designed amazing, thought-provoking posters sharing what they want the Environment to look like in the future. All of the children’s entries have been sent to the council who will have the tricky job of looking at entries from across their district. Staff were extremely impressed with the entries and the time and effort that had gone into them.
Here are some examples:
Geography Spring Term 2022
In Year 3, we have been learning about changes to our local area. As part of the History Day at the start of term, we looked at Ordnance Survey maps to see how Toftwood had changed over the years, plus where the original school was situated. Next term, we shall be learning about Land Use
In Year 4 our focus has been the History of the Anglo-Saxons, but we have talked about the human geography of the time, including the ‘push and pull factors’ of the tribes that moved to Britain during the Middle Ages, eg land use, economic activity, natural resources and so on. We did learn about the countries of Europe to produce our electric board games.
Year 5
We have been doing history in Spring 2.
We studied map skills using Ordnance survey maps, using grid references to locate places, 8 point compass directions and identifying features using a key.
Year 6
In year 6, the children have been learning about North and South America. They studied ordinance survey maps, climate maps, road maps, resource maps and many more! The children learned about the physical features in Hawaii and created their own map thinking carefully about scale. They also learned about Fairtrade and focused specially on the growth of bananas and who makes the most money. All of the children are going to look out for the Fairtrade stickers in the supermarkets now!
Geography Autumn Term 2021
In Year 3, we spent the first half of the Autumn term going ‘Around the World’, revising our Year 2 knowledge on continents and oceans, before learning about places in the UK. We learnt about different settlements such as cities, towns and villages. We compared two cities (Norwich and Birmingham) plus extended our maps skills by learning about grid references.
In the second half term, our main focus was history, we learnt about where Egypt was on a map and located seas, deserts and major cities and landmarks.
In Year 5 we studied Earthquakes and tectonic plates as part of our wider topic on the Earth and Space. The children learnt the names and locations of all of the plates and how their movement causes earthquakes and tsunamis. We recapped our understanding of the layers of the Earth’s crust. We learnt how to stay safe in the event of an earthquake and made posters to help keep people safe.
We also found out what to do after an earthquake and what to have in an emergency safety kit. In an earthquake, you would be safest under something like a table when inside or outside in the open, away from buildings and debris. Listening to the radio, having spare clothes and food rations were advised. We found out about Charles Richter’s Richter Scale and the rival Mercalli scale of how earthquakes are measured. This included researching the location of the most frequent and severe earthquakes, most notably those around the Ring of Fire!
Geography Summer 1 2021
Year 4:
In Geography this term, we have gained an understanding of longitude and latitude and have been able to use co-ordinates to find a country and city on a map. We have also been researching an African country, finding out its human and physical features as well as interesting facts and presenting this on a PowerPoint presentation as part of our Computing sessions.
Year 5:
In year 5 we have been doing a local area study of the Norfolk Broads. We looked at where they are in England, and practised naming the counties in England. We then looked at the history of the Broads and how they were actually man-made by medieval peat diggers, before flooding when sea levels rose. Next we learnt how humans can also damage the Broads through eutrophication and even through tourism. Despite not being able to visit the Broads this year, the children still produced a lovely fact sheet to promote safe tourism.
Geography Spring Term 2021
Year 6:
Year 6 have enjoyed their Amazing Americas topic this term. They have really impressed us with their general knowledge about North and South America. The children have also worked hard to label the countries and use their research skills to find out interesting facts. We have looked at maps on a range of scales and thought about the different information that different types of maps can tell us.
Year 5:
The children have worked really hard at home to learn all about the continent of South America. They have learned about the physical and human features across the continent looking specifically at cities in Brazil, the Amazon Rainforest and the Amazon River. The children enjoyed planning a three-day trip to a Brazilian city of their choice where they thought carefully about where to visit and what they would need to pack. They also compared a city in the UK (Liverpool) with a city in Argentina (Buenos Aires) looking at buildings, climate, the position of the city, the closest ocean and population. They were then given the challenge to represent all of their findings in a Venn diagram. It’s been a busy half term!
Year 4:
Year 4 have been learning about physical and human features. We explored these geographical features around the U.K. and Italy. We have been identifying the key topographical features of mountains and mountain ranges. We have also researched how the five types of mountains were formed, creating labelled diagrams and locating different types of mountains on a map of Europe.
Year 3:
At the beginning of the Spring term, children in Year 3 investigated land use in both urban and rural areas. They looked at the physical and human geographical features of different regions of the UK and how different types of land are used for different things, including agriculture.
We also looked at our local area and explored the areas of Toftwood and Dereham. We located our school and the surrounding human and physical features on a map.