Geography

WELCOME TO THE GEOGRAPHY PAGE

Miss Hayes- Geography Subject Leader

At the beginning of this academic year, I was fortunate enough to acquire the responsibility of leading the geography curriculum here at St. Bede’s. 

In September 2022, the development of the Geography curriculum in St. Bede’s was awarded the Bronze award in the Primary Geography Quality Mark, with the lively and effective learning being recognised across the school by a senior member of the Geographical Association. This will be reviewed in three years’ time as we endeavour to achieve the Silver Quality Mark with continued efforts to develop a love and curiosity for the physical and human features of the world we all share.

At St. Bede’s, we follow an approach whereby the Geography curriculum is effectively sequenced and divided into a series of enquiry questions. Children’s geographical learning in Year 3 and 4 consolidates prior learning in EYFS/ KS1 as well as provides a basis for building deeper thinking skills and knowledge when they reach Year 5 and 6 with similar content being explored and extended in much greater depth. For example, in Year 4, children answer the question ‘Why do some earthquakes cause more destruction than others?’ and develop skills such as being able to locate, describe and explain the distribution of earthquakes occurring around the world; explain why volcanoes and earthquakes often occur at the same locations around the world and; identify and locate the ‘Pacific Ring of Fire’.

Such learning is extended when children reach Year 6 and begin their geographical enquiry to answer ‘How do volcanoes affect the lives of people living on Hiemaey?’. Not only will they be able to explain why Hiemaey has an active volcano, they will be able to describe and explain the structure of a typical composite volcano as well as evaluate and reach a judgement regarding the benefits and costs or disadvantages of living in close proximity to an active volcano on Hiemaey.

In November of this academic year, the school came together for a celebration assembly to show recognition for ‘Geography Awareness Week’ which led to the creation of erupting volcanoes, annotated maps, home-made globes galore, travel brochures, creation of new islands (which I would love to visit!) as well as endless fact files, videos and information leaflets on how to protect endangered species and our world to name but a few. Staff and children were both equally amazed at what has been displayed!

The assembly also informed children of the importance of geography as a subject, the positive difference they can make in our world as well as how they can become a school geography ambassadors. Since then, we have appointed Logan (Year 4), Kai (Year 5) and Joseph (Year 6)  to represent their year groups as Geographer Ambassadors 2023 – 2024 due to their contributions to geography here at St. Bede’s. The ambassadors and a number of their peers were awarded for their creations to mark ‘Geography Awareness Week 2023’ along with their work being displayed in school. 

Before the Christmas break, children also welcomed our newest addition to the school – Bede the Bear. From our assembly, they know how much Bede the Bear loves to explore the world around him and get his picture taken for his travel book - whether it be locally or further afield. A member from each of year groups will be given the responsibility to take home Bede the Bear each week before sharing their adventures with peers upon Bede’s return the following week.

In March/ April, we will kickstart the preparation to enter the ‘Young Geographer of the Year 2024’ national competition whereby children will create an A3 poster based on a given topic. The guidelines are due to be announced on the Royal Geographer Society website so further details will be shared with class teachers after this announcement. St. Bede’s geographers, keep a watch out for this as well as the year’s geography club in the summer term!!

Below are a selection of websites that pupils can use to enhance and deepen their geographical knowledge. If you have any questions about geography at St. Bede's, please click HERE.  Additionally, I have detailed the intentions of Geography at school below, how we implement our intentions and the impacts this will have on our pupils.

Thank you for visiting the Geography Faculty Page!

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