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Geography
The Geography Co-ordinator is Mrs Harding
We aim for a Widnes Academy Geographer to:
Show curiosity about the world
See wonder and variation across our planet and its global community
Show care and concern for the environment and society
Recognise that we have things in common with other cultures even if there are visible differences in our everyday experiences
Be able to develop, describe and explain their own values
As our children learn about Geography in Widnes Academy, we intend to give them the enthusiasm, knowledge and skills to be global citizens who can recognize and appreciate the wonder and variation across our planet. We want them wonder and ask questions about both our local environment and the wider world and look for how we fit in as part of this global community. In tandem with our Science and PSHE learning, we want them to develop a care and concern for the environment and for the different societies that make up our planet. We want them to be equipped with skills to allow them independence such as reading maps and knowing what symbols and keys at different scales mean.
We aim to match our pupil’s local context to our content and use our surrounding area to give real life experiences – e.g. observing the flow of the Mersey and conditions at it’s banks; woodland areas; exploring how we can improve our local environment down to microhabitats for minibeasts. We take opportunities to broaden our pupils’ breadth of experience to include a range of cultures e.g. Black History in Autumn term. Our PSHE work on Thoughtbox also provides chances to complement Geographical concepts of similarities and differences within societies globally and look at our identity and role in the world.
Our curriculum is thought about in several scales: Our immediate environment: Our school and it’s grounds |
Our local area: encompassing West Bank, River Mersey, and at a wider level, Widnes.
Our nation: Great Britain and the United Kingdom
Our world: learning about places in the wider world.
EYFS begin with our immediate environment, thinking about what is in their new school environment and how it makes them feel in different locations. As part of Understanding the World and People and Communities, they will begin to think further afield through stories and images shared of places around the world and look at the similarities and differences they see between our experience and those locations.
In Y1 children begin to look more closely at our local area and nation. Finding out about our local area through observation and fieldwork investigations and being introduced to the different countries in the United Kingdom. They will begin to see the more global differences through looking at hot and cold climates and the implications of living there.
Moving into Y2, they look at the locality of London in comparison to West Bank and use this to begin to embed mapping ideas further. They begin to think more globally through a comparative study of Nairobi on the African continent.
In Y3, we begin a new key stage with a recap of features of the United Kingdom looking more closely at the physical and human characteristics it features and locations of these. They use the UK to begin to use atlases more independently to find and label features and learn about how physical and human features are mapped in Ordinance Survey.
Moving to Y4/5, we begin with a European case study – Paris, France. They then look at changes over time through Villagers Settlers and Trade and how this impacts relationships between places in Britain. They will return to more physical systems geography through the study of Where does the water in our rivers come from? The Water Cycle and Rivers.
In 5/6 we look more closely at our local River and use fieldwork techniques via Digimaps to learn how computer systems help use study things closely. We compare the river course to that of the Thames and take measurements of the two rivers’ widths at their widest points to compare. Digimaps is used to look at land use alongside the rivers and make generalizations and comparisons. Their study of South America offers the chance to learn about different biomes and the rainforest while comparing time zones globally. They will end their geographical learning with a unit about trade - Selected to give pupils a chance to ‘think global’ as they move to KS3 geography.
