Understanding our world through geography

Geography helps children understand the world, their place within it and the relationships between people, places and environments.

At Waterloo, we want every child to develop a curiosity about the world that extends beyond their immediate experience. Geography enables children to explore the richness and diversity of places, recognise the processes that shape the Earth and understand how human actions affect environments and communities.

Our curriculum is designed to develop:

• secure knowledge of places at local, national and global scales;
• understanding of important physical and human processes;
• an increasingly rich geographical vocabulary;
• confidence in using maps, globes, atlases, aerial photographs and digital mapping;
• knowledge of how places are connected and interdependent;
• the ability to ask and investigate geographical questions;
• competence in fieldwork and geographical observation;
• respect for different communities, cultures and ways of living;
• understanding of environmental change and sustainability;
• a sense of responsibility towards the world and its people.

Children learn both what the world is like and how geographers investigate and interpret it.

Geography is not simply the memorisation of countries, capital cities and physical features. It is a disciplined way of understanding places, patterns, processes, relationships and change.

Our curriculum approach

In Nursery and Reception, children’s early geographical development is taught through Understanding the World within the United Learning Early Years Curriculum.

From Year 1 to Year 6 in mainstream classes, we use Ark Curriculum Plus Geography as the principal toolkit through which the National Curriculum is planned and taught.

In our specialist provisions, geographical learning is developed through carefully selected and substantially adapted Cornerstones projects. The projects are reviewed annually to ensure breadth, progression, appropriate geographical coverage and meaningful connections with the mainstream curriculum.

Together, these approaches provide:

• a coherent journey from children’s immediate surroundings to the wider world;
• progressive locational and place knowledge;
• increasing understanding of human and physical geography;
• planned development of mapwork and fieldwork;
• substantive and disciplinary geographical knowledge;
• recurring concepts that become increasingly complex;
• purposeful comparison between places;
• explicit teaching of geographical vocabulary;
• opportunities to consider environmental and global issues.

Curriculum resources support teaching but do not replace teachers’ professional judgement. Teachers remain responsible for checking prior knowledge, explaining new content clearly and adapting teaching so that all children can participate and make strong progress.

Our curriculum fulfils the aims of the National Curriculum for geography, developing contextual knowledge, understanding of physical and human processes, geographical skills and competence in fieldwork.

Geography from Nursery to Year 6

Phase	What children learn	How children learn
Nursery	Their immediate environment; familiar and unfamiliar places; weather and seasonal change; simple features of different environments; early knowledge of the UK and contrasting parts of the world.	Through first-hand exploration, outdoor provision, stories, photographs, globes, talk, play, visits and adult modelling.
Reception	Their locality and contrasting environments; settlements and physical features; Kenya and other parts of the world; simple maps, aerial photographs, symbols, keys and directional language.	Through Understanding the World, explicit teaching, observation, stories, non-fiction, maps, photographs and purposeful continuous provision.
Years 1 and 2	The local area, the United Kingdom, coastlines, continents, oceans and life in Kenya.	Through Ark units, direct teaching, maps, globes, atlases, photographs, comparison, local fieldwork and geographical enquiry.
Years 3 and 4	UK settlements and land use, climate and climate zones, Europe, rivers and rainforests, South America, North America and the USA.	Through increasingly complex maps and sources, case studies, fieldwork, data, comparison and explanation.
Years 5 and 6	Asia, mountains, volcanoes, earthquakes, biomes, advanced mapping, local fieldwork, climate change, resources and global trade.	Through enquiry, analysis of evidence, evaluation of sources, fieldwork, mapping and consideration of global challenges.
Specialist provision	Geographical knowledge identified within annually selected Cornerstones projects, appropriate to children’s developmental stages, prior learning and individual needs.	Through adapted Cornerstones pedagogy, explicit teaching, first-hand experiences, visual and sensory support, repetition and meaningful links with wider school learning.

Geography in the Early Years

Young children begin to make sense of geography through their relationships with familiar people and places. They notice where objects belong, recognise familiar routes, respond to changes in weather and encounter different environments through stories, photographs, play and first-hand experience.

In Nursery, children begin with their home, school and immediate surroundings. They talk about where they live, explore familiar and unfamiliar environments and notice significant features in the world around them.

They begin to:

• describe features of their immediate environment;
• talk about weather and seasonal change;
• identify similarities and differences between places;
• locate the United Kingdom on a globe;
• encounter the North Pole, South Pole and Africa;
• compare their surroundings with contrasting environments;
• care for the natural world.

In Reception, children’s geographical knowledge becomes more systematic. They learn about their locality, different types of settlement and physical features such as beaches, hills, forests, rivers and seas.

They also learn to:

• locate Kenya on a globe;
• compare their immediate environment with other places;
• understand that a map represents a place from above;
• use picture maps and aerial photographs;
• identify familiar features;
• recognise simple symbols and keys;
• describe routes and relative locations;
• use increasingly precise geographical vocabulary.

Learning takes place through explicit teaching, exploration, outdoor provision, local observation, stories, non-fiction, photographs, maps and purposeful play.

Geographical learning is not left to chance. Adults identify the knowledge children should gain, draw attention to significant features, introduce vocabulary and help children make connections between experiences.

By the end of Reception, children have developed foundational knowledge of place, environment, comparison and representation. This prepares them to study their local area more formally in Year 1.

Geography in Key Stage 1

In Years 1 and 2, children move from their immediate surroundings to progressively wider geographical scales.

They begin by studying the local area and then move outwards to the United Kingdom, its coastlines and the wider world. Children develop an increasingly secure mental map while learning to recognise, describe and compare human and physical features.

They use maps, globes, atlases, photographs and fieldwork to answer questions about places.

Year group	Ark geography units
Year 1	Our Local Area; The United Kingdom; Beside the Sea
Year 2	Planet Earth; Life in Kenya

In Year 1, children connect new geographical vocabulary and map skills with places they can experience directly. They then learn about the four countries and capital cities of the United Kingdom before studying its coastlines.

In Year 2, children widen their perspective to the seven continents and five oceans. Their study of Kenya enables them to apply this global knowledge and make an informed comparison between the United Kingdom and a non-European country.

Comparison is based on carefully taught knowledge rather than generalisations. Children learn that countries contain varied places, environments and communities and should not be represented through a single image or stereotype.

Children in Key Stage 1 learn to:

• use world maps, atlases and globes;
• locate the United Kingdom and its four countries;
• identify the continents and oceans;
• recognise human and physical features;
• use simple compass directions;
• describe routes and locations;
• interpret aerial photographs;
• create simple maps;
• use basic symbols and keys;
• observe their surroundings;
• collect simple fieldwork information;
• communicate geographical findings.

Geography in Key Stage 2

In Key Stage 2, children study an increasingly wide range of places, environments and processes. They make more complex connections between location, climate, landscape, settlement, resources and human activity.

Year group	Ark geography units
Year 3	Settlements and Land Use; Climate and Climate Zones; Europe
Year 4	Amazon: Rivers and Rainforests; The USA
Year 5	Asia: Mountains, Volcanoes and Earthquakes; Biomes
Year 6	Mapping the World; Global Challenges: Climate Change; Global Challenges: Trade

In Years 3 and 4, children deepen their knowledge of the United Kingdom before examining climate and climate zones, Europe, South America, North America and the USA.

They learn about settlement, land use, rivers, rainforests and the water cycle. Children use increasingly detailed maps and sources to explain relationships between physical environments and human activity.

In Years 5 and 6, children encounter more complex physical and human processes. Their study of Asia introduces mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes, while their study of biomes develops understanding of the relationships between climate, soil, vegetation, resources and human life.

In Year 6, children consolidate their mapwork and fieldwork before considering climate change and global trade. These units draw together previous learning about places, processes, resources and interdependence.

Children in Key Stage 2 learn to:

• use maps and atlases at different scales;
• locate countries, regions and significant features;
• use compass directions and grid references;
• interpret symbols, keys, scale and contour information;
• read physical, political and thematic maps;
• compare different representations of places;
• use photographs, data and digital mapping;
• plan and undertake fieldwork;
• collect quantitative and qualitative information;
• identify patterns and relationships;
• explain geographical processes;
• evaluate evidence and sources;
• communicate findings through maps, diagrams, data and geographical explanation.

Substantive and disciplinary knowledge

Our geography curriculum develops two connected forms of knowledge.

Substantive knowledge: what we know

Substantive knowledge is the established geographical content children learn about the world.

Within the Ark curriculum, it is organised through three overarching strands.

Locational knowledge

Children build an increasingly secure mental map of the world. They learn about their locality, the United Kingdom, continents, oceans, significant countries and cities, major physical features, climate zones and biomes.

Locational knowledge is more than remembering isolated names. It provides the spatial framework children need to understand climate, settlement, trade and environmental change.

Environmental, physical and human geography

Children learn about weather, climate, rivers, the water cycle, mountains, volcanoes, earthquakes, rainforests, biomes, settlements, land use, natural resources, trade and environmental change.

They learn that physical and human geography are connected and that people both influence and respond to their environments.

Geographical skills and fieldwork

Children learn to use maps, atlases, globes, photographs, data and digital mapping. They observe places directly, collect information, present findings and use evidence to answer geographical questions.

Disciplinary knowledge: how geographers know

Disciplinary knowledge teaches children how geographical knowledge is constructed, represented, interpreted and debated.

Children develop understanding of:

• the physical world and the processes that create and change environments;
• human environments, including settlement, land use, movement and economic activity;
• interdependence between people, places and environments;
• place and space, including location, distribution and representation;
• scale, from the local to the global;
• young people’s lives and how geography shapes their experiences and choices.

Substantive and disciplinary knowledge are taught together. Children need secure knowledge of a place or process before they can meaningfully interpret patterns, compare evidence or reach a geographical conclusion.

Building knowledge over time

Important geographical concepts are revisited at increasing levels of complexity.

For example:

• early knowledge of home and school develops into the study of settlements, land use and cities;
• noticing daily weather develops into understanding climate, climate zones, biomes and climate change;
• exploring familiar routes develops into using scaled maps, grid references and digital mapping;
• recognising rivers develops into understanding river systems, the water cycle, settlement and environmental change;
• comparing familiar environments develops into evaluating connections between countries and continents;
• learning that people need resources develops into understanding distribution, trade and interdependence.

This cumulative structure helps children form increasingly rich geographical frameworks rather than encounter a series of disconnected topics.

Geographical enquiry and fieldwork

Children learn that geographers investigate questions about places, patterns, processes and relationships.

A geographical enquiry may involve:

• asking a focused question;
• activating relevant prior knowledge;
• examining maps, photographs and data;
• collecting evidence through fieldwork;
• comparing places or patterns;
• identifying possible relationships;
• reaching a conclusion;
• evaluating the evidence and methods used;
• communicating findings.

Enquiry is supported by secure knowledge. Children cannot investigate a complex geographical question effectively if they have not first been taught enough about the relevant place, process and vocabulary.

Fieldwork enables children to investigate places directly. Our school grounds, surrounding streets, Waterloo, the coast and the wider local area provide opportunities to study:

• routes and movement;
• buildings and services;
• land use;
• weather and seasonal change;
• transport;
• coastal features;
• environmental quality;
• human impact;
• similarities and differences between locations;
• change over time.

Fieldwork progresses from sensory exploration and guided observation towards increasingly systematic geographical enquiry.

Stage	Developing fieldwork
Nursery and Reception	Exploring environments, noticing features, following familiar routes and representing observations through talk, drawing and simple maps.
Key Stage 1	Identifying human and physical features, using simple maps and keys, making observations and collecting basic information.
Lower Key Stage 2	Asking questions, using compass directions and grid references, recording land use, measuring features and presenting findings.
Upper Key Stage 2	Planning enquiries, selecting methods, collecting quantitative and qualitative information, creating maps and evaluating findings.

Fieldwork is not simply a walk or visit. It has a clear geographical purpose. Children know what they are investigating, what evidence they need and how their observations will help answer a question.

Maps and geographical representation

Maps are central to our geography curriculum and are used regularly rather than appearing only within isolated map-skills lessons.

Children progress from:

• recognising familiar places in photographs;
• exploring routes in play;
• using simple picture maps;
• understanding a view from above;
• recognising symbols and keys;
• using globes and atlases;
• following compass directions;
• using coordinates and grid references;
• interpreting scale and contour information;
• reading physical, political and thematic maps;
• using digital mapping;
• creating maps from fieldwork.

Children also learn that maps are selective representations. Different maps show different information and are created for different purposes.

As children mature, they consider what a map includes, what it leaves out and how useful it is for answering a particular geographical question.

Our geography pedagogy

Strong geography teaching at Waterloo follows a number of common principles.

Secure knowledge of location

Children need to know where places are. Teachers use maps, globes and spatial language regularly so that pupils develop an increasingly secure mental map.

When a new place is introduced, it is located in relation to places children already know.

Clear explanation and modelling

Teachers explain geographical concepts in manageable steps and model how geographers read maps, compare places, analyse information, conduct fieldwork and construct explanations.

Purposeful comparison

Comparison helps children identify what is distinctive about a place, but comparisons are based on sufficient knowledge.

Teachers avoid simplistic contrasts. Children learn that countries and continents contain diverse people, landscapes, settlements and experiences.

Knowledge before enquiry

Children are taught the knowledge and vocabulary needed to engage meaningfully with geographical questions. Enquiry then enables them to connect, apply and interpret that knowledge.

Retrieval and connection

Important places, vocabulary and concepts are revisited regularly. Teachers explicitly connect new learning with previous study so that geographical knowledge becomes increasingly organised and secure.

Responsive teaching

Teachers check understanding through questioning, discussion, mapping, explanation, comparison and children’s work.

Misconceptions are identified and addressed directly rather than allowed to become established.

Geographical vocabulary and oracy

Geography has a rich and increasingly technical vocabulary. This can create a significant barrier for children with lower language starting points, SEND or EAL.

Vocabulary is explicitly selected, taught, modelled and revisited.

Children are supported to:

• pronounce place names and geographical terms accurately;
• connect words with maps, images and direct experience;
• describe locations and distributions;
• compare places precisely;
• explain processes in sequence;
• identify causes and consequences;
• justify conclusions using evidence;
• discuss environmental and global issues respectfully.

As a Voice 21 Oracy School, we plan purposeful talk within geography. Children use partner discussion, sentence stems, collaborative enquiry, presentation and debate to develop and communicate their geographical thinking.

Representation and global understanding

Geography introduces children to people, places and ways of living beyond their immediate experience. We therefore represent communities accurately and respectfully.

Teachers select maps, photographs, texts and case studies that:

• show diversity within countries and continents;
• include urban and rural environments;
• recognise contemporary life as well as tradition;
• avoid presenting communities only through poverty, disaster or conflict;
• challenge stereotypes;
• acknowledge different experiences and perspectives.

Children learn that no single image, story or case study can represent an entire country or continent.

We want geography to build curiosity, respect and understanding while enabling children to question incomplete or misleading representations of places and people.

Geography in specialist provision

Children in specialist provision share the same entitlement to understand places, environments and the wider world.

Geographical learning is developed through carefully selected and adapted Cornerstones projects. These provide meaningful contexts through which children encounter communities, environments, weather, settlements, rivers, landscapes and relationships between people and places.

The project overview is reviewed annually to ensure:

• appropriate geographical breadth and balance;
• cumulative development of knowledge and skills;
• meaningful connections with the mainstream curriculum;
• coverage of physical and human geography;
• opportunities for mapwork and fieldwork;
• responsiveness to pupils’ developmental, communication, sensory and learning needs.

The precise sequence of projects may change, but children’s entitlement to purposeful and progressive geographical learning remains consistent.

Cornerstones projects follow four connected stages:

• Engage: encountering a motivating place, experience, image, object, map or question;
• Develop: explicitly learning essential geographical knowledge and vocabulary;
• Innovate: applying knowledge to an enquiry, route, map, comparison or practical situation;
• Express: revisiting and communicating learning in an accessible form.

Adaptation may include:

• real environments and familiar routes;
• photographs, symbols and visual prompts;
• globes, simplified maps and tactile representations;
• signing and augmentative communication;
• reduced language alongside accurate geographical vocabulary;
• smaller instructional steps;
• repeated modelling and experience;
• additional processing time;
• alternative methods of responding and recording.

Sensory experiences have a clear geographical purpose. They support children to notice, locate, compare, classify, follow a route or communicate an observation rather than replacing the explicit teaching of geographical knowledge.

Where meaningful, specialist provision connects with mainstream units, local visits, fieldwork and whole-school environmental projects. Inclusion means genuine access to geographical ideas and shared experiences, not necessarily completing the same task or following the same unit at the same time.

Progress may be demonstrated through increased attention, recognition, anticipation, locating, matching, sorting, observing, comparing, mapping, communicating or explaining.

Adaptation and inclusion in mainstream geography

All children should encounter an ambitious geography curriculum.

Teachers identify barriers and adapt teaching through:

• pre-teaching and revisiting vocabulary;
• regular use of maps and globes;
• visual and concrete representations;
• simplified or enlarged maps;
• chunked explanations;
• additional modelling;
• sentence stems and talk frames;
• supported reading;
• alternative methods of recording;
• additional processing time;
• retrieval and repetition;
• targeted adult support;
• carefully structured fieldwork.

Adaptation should increase participation, understanding and independence. It should not routinely remove geographical content or replace it with an unrelated activity.

Children may demonstrate geographical understanding through talk, selection, mapping, sorting, drawing, modelling or supported communication as well as through writing.

Assessment

Assessment identifies what geographical knowledge children have secured and how effectively they can use it.

Teachers use:

• questioning and discussion;
• retrieval activities;
• maps and globes;
• geographical vocabulary;
• children’s oral and written explanations;
• comparison tasks;
• fieldwork observations;
• diagrams, photographs and models;
• data interpretation;
• Ark knowledge quizzes, records and enquiry questions.

Teachers consider whether children can:

• locate relevant places and features;
• recall important geographical knowledge;
• use appropriate vocabulary;
• describe and compare places accurately;
• explain a physical or human process;
• recognise patterns and connections;
• interpret a map, image or set of data;
• conduct fieldwork with increasing independence;
• reach a conclusion supported by evidence;
• apply knowledge in a new context.

Assessment does not depend upon extended writing alone. Children may demonstrate knowledge through mapping, talk, diagrams, models, data, photographs, practical fieldwork or alternative communication.

What success looks like

Our geography curriculum is successful when children:

• are curious about places and environments;
• possess a secure and increasingly detailed mental map;
• remember important locational and place knowledge;
• understand significant physical and human processes;
• recognise connections between people, places and environments;
• use geographical vocabulary accurately;
• interpret maps, globes, photographs and data;
• ask meaningful geographical questions;
• observe environments carefully;
• participate purposefully in fieldwork;
• identify patterns and relationships;
• compare places without resorting to stereotypes;
• explain conclusions using evidence;
• understand that maps and sources have purposes and limitations;
• consider environmental and global issues thoughtfully;
• respect different communities and ways of living;
• understand their own locality within a wider geographical context;
• make strong progress from their individual starting points;
• leave Waterloo ready for the geographical demands of secondary education.

Above all, we want children to understand that geography is the study of a connected and changing world. Through secure knowledge, careful observation and disciplined enquiry, children learn not only where places are, but why they matter and how people and environments shape one another.