The National Curriculum (2014) states, “A high-quality geography education should inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives.” This statement provides the overarching aims for our geography curriculum at Dore Primary School. The National Curriculum also sets out the subject’s scope and content that will be studied in Key Stages 1 and 2. For the Foundation Stage, the Early Learning Goals similarly provide guidance to ensure children are developing their Understanding of the World.
We ensure that throughout the school each year group gives our children opportunities to learn about geography in a way that allows them to progress and become fluent in their geographical knowledge and skills. At Dore Primary School geography is taught though our topics which are chosen by each year group to give a focus to the learning each half term. We aim to make our curriculum relevant, current, creative, exciting and engaging. Lessons are planned to respond to current and important issues and are closely related to the real world making children’s learning purposeful and meaningful. Our geography curriculum is also explicitly linked to our whole school values and our social, moral, spiritual and cultural responsibilities.A link to a document setting out these connections is below.
In October we launched the ‘Our Wonderful World’ photography competition, to encourage children to use photography to show their sense of wonder and fascination about the physical and human world. Children submitted photographs they had taken themselves. The breadth of themes and the standard of photography were amazing and are now displayed in the Junior building promoting both geography and creativity.
At Dore Primary School our geography curriculum is also closely linked to our Global Dimension and Charity commitments as a Unicef Rights Respecting School and Fairtrade School, as well as our whole school focus on Outdoor Learning.
GEOGRAPHY – INTENT, IMPLEMENTATION AND IMPACT STATEMENT:
Geography News:
- Year 3 Summer Walk
To celebrate the end of Year 3, we enjoyed a lovely walk together up to Blacka Moor (and back!). The children (and parent helpers) were brilliant enjoying the countryside and being together. We spotted some features of plants we had been leaning about (Mainly sticky seed dispersal techniques!) We also collected rocks for analysis the … Read more - FS2 Nature Treasure Chests
What a magical time we have had this week in outdoor learning. Children had to hunt high and low for natures treasures on our school grounds and found some really interesting things. Off we went with our treasure chests (egg boxes) which we filled with: snail shells, baby conkers, apple babies, cherry babies, catkins, beech … Read more - FS2 Orienteering (outdoor learning)
This week children in FS2 had the opportunity to try orienteering. We had to put our map reading skills to the test and communicate effectively for this task. Children hunted for coloured flags around the school grounds, using numbers on a map to help them. We were really impressed with their determination to complete the … Read more - Y4 Visit to Burbage Valley
To support our learning in Geography of maps and settlements, and History about Roman roads and bridge-making, Y4 hiked from Ringinglow along the Houndkirk Road, then down through Burbage Valley across the packhorse bridge and up to Carl Wark and then Higger Tor. Whilst walking, we investigated why some people think that the Houndkirk Road … Read more - Y5 Castleton Visit
Y5 had a great trip out to Castleton last week. The children visited Peveril Castle and learnt about the history of the castle and how it was built in the wake of the Norman Conquest (when William the Conqueror came to the throne). The children were able to link this with their learning in relation … Read more - Ancient Egypt Scale model
To kick off our Leaning Journey, Year 3 worked together to make a scale model of Ancient Egypt. It included: The River Nile Delta Fertile land Red Sea Mediterranean Sea Eastern and Western Deserts So many monuments! It was super lesson using history, geography, art and design skills as well as working together using the … Read more - Schools Climate Emergency South Yorkshire Conference
Children from Dore Primary School took part in the 3rd South Yorkshire schools’ climate action conference in March. This important conference was very popular so only six places were available to us. Children were asked to send in their pitch, (either written or by video message) for why they should get a place. Mrs Simpson … Read more - Pre-School Fairtrade
As it’s Fairtrade Fortnight, on Monday we learned about where our food comes from and what it means if it is Fairtrade. We looked at the logo and explored the journey of a banana. We went in the hall and made the journey of a banana. The children were banana trees, chopped down, transported, put … Read more - Y2 – Local History and Geography
Today in Y2, the children have been studying the geographical changes in Dore since 1890. We identified that human features have changed the most, mainly the amount of houses built in the locality. We are creatively representing the changes we have discovered over time, as an aerial map. - Y3 – Science – Climate Change
Some of the last learning Year 3 completed for their Pole to Pole topic was to understand climate change: What it is, How humans are causing it, The effects on the world’s biomes (espeically the polar region), What we can do about it. To do this, we: Used maps to understand what a geographical change … Read more - Y5 Geography – Map Symbols
Y5 have continued their Out and About Learning Journey by learning about map symbols, how they are used to mark features on maps and how they can be useful for interpreting maps and for planning or following a route. The children began by looking at different maps and getting to grips with the Ordnance … Read more - FS2 – Walk in Dore Village
We had a slightly soggy but enjoyable morning being Geographers and having an explore of our local surroundings and visiting Dore Village to look and landuse and see what types of services were available there. We were impressed with how well the children behaved on the walk and how much they listened and observed about … Read more - Y4 Winter Walk
To end an excellent first term in Y4, we spent our penultimate day before the Christmas holiday undertaking a 10 kilometre walk from school, up to Totley Moss and Blacka Moor, then back to school. As you can see, the views were amazing as the sky was crystal clear, and we kept warm all day … Read more - Y4 Portal Stories
Y4 have spent a great deal of care, time and effort creating these amazing stories. First we read about different examples of ‘portal story’, including The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe and The Phantom Tollbooth. We worked out that mostly portal stories start with someone who isn’t happy with their everyday life (just like … Read more - Y4 Natural Balms
Taking inspiration from stories of some of the people of the Amazon Rainforest, Y4 created a balm useful as a remedy for insect bites and stings from plantain (the grass not the fruit), olive oil and beeswax. We boiled the oil, then added the plantain and simmered for another 10 minutes, then we strained the … Read more - Y4 River Fieldwork
To tie in with our ‘Amazonian Adventure’, Y4 learned about the features of rivers, and how water flows through them. To embed the new vocabulary and test out some ideas (hypotheses) we had come up with, we visited Old Hay Brook on a Geography Field Trip. This involved lots of hands on, practical learning, but … Read more - Y4 Layers of the Rainforest
As part of our ‘Amazonian Adventure’ learning journey, we studied how the flora of the rainforest can be split into different layers: emergent, canopy, understorey and undergrowth/forest floor. To conslidate this learning, children spent an outdoor learning session trying to recreate scale models of the rainforest using scavenged items. - FS2 Mr Muddy Face
We met another of Mr Owl’s friends this week – Mr Muddy Face. He can be tricky to spot, but if you look really carefully then you might just see….clay for a face, acorns for eyes, feathers for ears and a big shiny brown conker for his nose…yep that’s him. Captivated by his presence, the … Read more - Y5 Castleton Residential – Wednesday
Wednesday was walk day. The air was cooler, but the skies were still clear. As you can see from the photos, the views from Mam Tor were amazing. The walk also took in Peveril Castle, as part of our ‘Who Do We Think We Are? The Normans’ learning journey. - Y5 Castleton Residential – Tuesday
On Tuesday morning, while some children went for a stroll and a paddle down Miller’s Dale, others completed the High Ropes challenges and obstacle course on site. In the afternoon some groups went caving, while others did the High Ropes then had a dip in the pond! Tuesday finished off with a toasted marshmallow around … Read more