The study of Geography is about more than just memorising places on a map. It is about understanding the complexity of our world and appreciating the diversity of cultures that exist across continents. In the end, its about using all of that knowledge to help bridge divides and bring people together.”    Barack Obama, 2012.

Geography at Bourne Alliance is a    key part of our curriculum. We feel it is important for children to be curious about and have an understanding of the world with live in.

During their time with us, children have the opportunity to explore and learn about the whole world; from their local area, to learning about people and places thousands of miles away. We see Geography as a key part of teaching our children to be environmentally conscious and responsible citizens.

Geography at   Bourne Alliance    enables children to have knowledge of and be able to adapt to an ever-changing world and develop self-awareness of the potential human impacts on a natural world. We aim to give them the knowledge they require to become curious about the world - from their local environment to people and places thousands of miles away.  We also intend for children to gain important skills that they will require throughout their lives, including; an understanding of direction and place; map reading (both physical maps and atlases); using a compass and how digital technologies can support these.  We aim for children to develop their knowledge, skills and confidence in using a range of geographical resources  and be able to recall taught key geographical vocabulary based on topics covered. Children are then able to build on opportunities for retrieval to embed their learning throughout their schooling  and are given the opportunities  to apply these to the real word through fieldwork.  Over the course of the year, coverage of the new national curriculum will be implemented and monitored for cross-curricular links between Geography and the wider curriculum enhancing a more creative and cohesive curriculum for all. Our mastery curriculum allows children to achieve a good level of knowledge  in geography, including children with SEND; pupil premium children and those that have missed areas of learning due to Covid.  

Geography is part of our Discovery curriculum and is based around the topics that year groups undertake. This gives children to opportunity to fully explore their topic and the geography related to it.

Some useful resources for parents

• https://www.kids-world-travel-guide.com/geography-for-kids.html  links for all countries/ continents etc.
• http://www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/geography/  useful help for various topics.
• https://www.layersoflondon.org/map  Needs a free sign up but is very useful and also has historical maps.
• https://maphub.net/    very good tool to help with map skills - including a drawing tool. Great to explore.
• https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/z9grd2p/resources/1    travel with Barnaby bear, really useful for KS1 children.
• Google map street view and   https://earth.google.com/web/​  great for games and understanding of the world and how other parts of the world look.

Progression map:

Please click the link below for the current progression of skills document. These are liable to change as the topics change to match the children’s interests.