Why we teach geography

At St Anne’s Infant school we are passionate about developing children as adventurous geographers, igniting their natural fascination of the world around them and the people within it. Through rich and meaningful experiences children develop a sense of who they are whilst developing a connection and understanding of our ever changing world. With a focus on spiritual, moral, social and cultural awareness, we aim to instil our young geographers with an appreciation for their environment and a respect and understanding for the many different cultures and societies that make our planet a wonderful place to live.

The knowledge, skills and understanding children develop

Through enquiry-led, hands on, investigative learning experiences, our adventurous learners are inspired to seek answers to the questions fostered through their own curiosity.  Exploration of our local environment and research of the wider world, develops the children’s observational, comparing and problem solving skills.  With St Anne’s fervour for learning new vocabulary, children are equipped with geographical language and empowered to communicate their thoughts, ideas and findings to a range of audiences. 

Collaborative learning, enables our resilient explorers to develop a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes and the impact that change over time has.

As early as Reception, our young geographers learn to draw information from simple maps and as more experienced geographers, they learn to devise their own maps, construct basic symbols in a key and use compass directions.  Children benefit from every opportunity taken to practise and apply their reading, writing and maths skills within the geography curriculum.

The learning experience

Children’s understanding of the world begins when they start school; through exploration and play, our inquisitive geographers quickly gain a sense of the world around them.  Transferable knowledge and skills are built on progressively into and throughout Key Stage 1 providing our children with a deeper and embedded understanding of our culturally, socially and ecologically diverse world.  Inspiring, thought provoking stories, non-fiction books and poems from around the world enrich our children’s geographical experiences, providing them with an appreciation of how different life is beyond our immediate locality.  At St Anne’s, we love to take our learning outside and through Forest School in Reception and explorative trips in and around Bristol, geography is brought to life and our young geographers develop the understanding of the power they have to make a difference to the wonderful world we live in today.

Geography Day 

We celebrated Geography Day by learning about different countries from our school community and around the world. Each class dressed in the colours of their country's flag and took park in a broad range of activities to learn about the human and physical geographical features of these different places.  We even had some visitors come in and tell us more about life in these countries.