At Chestnuts, we teach both physical and human geography to enable our pupils to learn about places in the world and to increase their knowledge of other cultures. This is important as, in a world where people travel and there is a greater integration, our children need to gain knowledge and understanding about the lives, cultures and experiences of those around them.   

We follow the National Curriculum to teach our children about varying environments and landscapes around the world and how these create challenges at a local, regional, national and global scale. At Chestnuts, we understand the science of learning so have designed our curriculum to be progressive but also to revisit and review key knowledge. As the children progress, growing their knowledge and revisiting previous learning about the world helps them to deepen their understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes, and of the formation and use of landscapes and environments. For example, in the Early Years, our children begin to think geographically through the Understanding the World area of learning. They focus on features of their own, familiar environments before comparing these to other places. These skills are then developed through the strand of locational knowledge as the children journey through the school. In Key Stage One, they learn about their local town and surrounding area, before moving on to exploring their own country and the continent of Europe in Lower Key Stage Two. As the children progress into Upper Key Stage Two, they continue to expand their knowledge, learning about The Americas and the wider world. In this way, we ensure that they are prepared for their future learning at secondary school. This empowers our children to broaden their geographical knowledge and skills, whilst building on previous learning.   

We also encourage our children to acquire and develop geographical skills. For example, using, drawing and interpreting maps, using compasses and learning basic fieldwork skills. Fieldwork skills, such as carrying out observations, collecting, recording and retrieving information as part of an enquiry, are developed on the school grounds, around the local area and on trips further afield.  We introduce and use a wide range of geography specific vocabulary, which progresses as the children develop their knowledge and skills through the curriculum.   

We have high aspirations for all of our children’s study of geography and inspire our children to develop their curiosity, fascination and understanding of the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives.  We follow our school values that are embedded in ‘The Chestnuts Way’ of choosing your attitude, working hard and challenging yourself, having fun and making someone’s day to deepen the children’s understanding of physical and human processes and the interaction between them.