At Thurcroft Junior Academy we pride ourselves on enquiry-based geographical teaching. Our Geography planning categorises topics into the 4 types of Geographical areas such as locational knowledge, place knowledge, human and physical geography or skills and fieldwork. This gives our children a holistic approach to learning as well as the fieldwork skills massively encouraging our ethos of enquiry-based teaching.

The National Curriculum for Geography states that by the end of Key Stage 2, children should be able to:

• Locate the world’s countries, using maps to focus on Europe (including the location of Russia) and North and South America, concentrating on their environmental regions, key physical and human characteristics, countries, and major cities
• Name and locate counties and cities of the United Kingdom, geographical regions and their identifying human and physical characteristics, key topographical features (including hills, mountains, coasts and rivers), and land-use patterns; and understand how some of these aspects have changed over time
• Identify the position and significance of latitude, longitude, Equator, Northern Hemisphere, Southern Hemisphere, the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, Arctic and Antarctic Circle, the Prime/Greenwich Meridian and time zones (including day and night)
• Understand geographical similarities and differences through the study of human and physical geography of a region of the United Kingdom, a region in a European country, and a region within North or South America
• Describe and understand key aspects of:  physical geography, including: climate zones, biomes and vegetation belts, rivers, mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes, and the water cycle
• Human geography, including: types of settlement and land use, economic activity including trade links, and the distribution of natural resources including energy, food, minerals and water Geography – key stages 1 and 2.
• Use maps, atlases, globes and digital/computer mapping to locate countries and describe features studied
• Use the eight points of a compass, four and six-figure grid references, symbols and key (including the use of Ordnance Survey maps) to build their knowledge of the United Kingdom and the wider world
• Use fieldwork to observe, measure, record and present the human and physical features in the local area using a range of methods, including sketch maps, plans and graphs, and digital technologies.

The Geography School Project

During Autumn 2, the children in school participated in the Geography School Project. This was an opportunity for children to learn more about different continents, countries and expand their overall locational knowledge. Each class was given a different continent, and they had to choose a country within that continent and research information such as its population, currency and how many miles it is away from Thurcroft. At the end of this project, the children gathered in a special assembly to showcase and celebrate all of their hard work which they thoroughly enjoyed.