Geography

Geography

At Fir Tree, geography is taught as an engaging and purposeful subject that helps pupils understand the world, their place within it and their responsibility for the future. Our geography curriculum is carefully designed to build knowledge and skills progressively, enabling pupils to think like geographers while developing a deep understanding of places, environments and global connections.

Geography learning is organised through a series of carefully sequenced projects that build in complexity as pupils move through the school. In Year 3, pupils explore Europe, study settlements in the UK and develop an understanding of climate zones. Year 4 builds on this with learning about rivers, the Amazon rainforest and the geography of the USA. In Year 5, pupils deepen their global understanding through a focus on Asia, including volcanoes, earthquakes and mountain ranges, alongside learning about biomes and climate change. In Year 6, pupils bring together their geographical understanding through the study of global trade and advanced mapping skills, preparing them for future geographical learning.

The geography curriculum at Fir Tree is underpinned by clear substantive concepts: locational knowledge; environmental, physical and human geography; and geographical skills and fieldwork. These concepts are revisited regularly across year groups so that pupils can make connections between places and processes, compare environments and understand how human activity and physical geography interact. Fieldwork and practical geographical skills are woven throughout the curriculum, enabling pupils to apply their learning in meaningful and memorable ways.

Across all geography lessons, prior knowledge is revisited and built upon to help pupils consolidate understanding and deepen learning over time. Each lesson includes clearly identified key knowledge and subject-specific vocabulary, which is explicitly taught and regularly revisited. This structured approach supports staff in delivering a coherent and consistent curriculum and ensures that pupils leave Fir Tree with a strong geographical knowledge base, well-developed skills and a growing sense of curiosity and responsibility towards the world around them.