Geography at Hawthorne

'Understanding the Earth, it's processes and the human impact upon it'

At Hawthorne Primary and Nursery School, our vision for Geography is to ignite a lifelong curiosity and fascination about the world and its people. We aim to empower our children with the skills, knowledge, and confidence to explore and understand the ever-changing world around them. Geography at Hawthorne is about delving deeper, making meaningful connections, and engaging in real-world enquiry that reflects the dynamic nature of people, places, and environments.

Through our carefully planned Geography curriculum, children will develop a strong sense of place, starting with where they live and expanding to a broader understanding of local, national, and global contexts. They learn to appreciate the diversity and similarities of the human and physical world, fostering respect, empathy, and celebration of differences. By examining real-world examples, our learners gain an informed perspective on their environment, understanding how they can positively influence and interact with it.

We are committed to developing children's geographical skills, including the ability to use, draw, and interpret maps of different scales, and equipping them with the vocabulary needed to conduct effective geographical enquiry. Additionally, children learn to apply map reading skills to globes and atlas maps, enabling them to identify and understand geographical features with confidence.

Geography at Hawthorne is more than a subject—it is a lens through which our children will better understand their place in the world, their connection to others, and their power to make a difference.

Our curriculum principles are embedded throughout our Geography curriculum.

R -Rich Vocabulary

E – Experiential

A – Aspiration

L – Life Skills

Rich Vocabulary

Through exposing our children to geographically rich subject specific vocabulary and through explicit teaching, our children learn to build, investigate and develop their technical vocabulary. Children will be taught to understand vocabulary in context and the meaning of it. They can then apply this to not just their geographical learning, but across the curriculum and within their wider reading and writing.  As the children progress through the school, they will build upon the vocabulary that they have already been taught and deepen their understanding.

Experiential

Providing our children with 'real', hands on, investigative and purposeful learning opportunities enables them to experience different environments, which exposes them to the world outside of their local area.  Through developing skills and fieldwork techniques, our children are provided with opportunities to explore the world where they live in new and different ways. Hands on experiences provide 'real' memories for children to refer back to in their future learning. This helps to develop their cultural capital and develops their learning beyond just the classroom.

Aspiration

Our children will hold high aspirations for themselves, and the local community. They will understand the importance of not giving up and demonstrate resilience when faced with difficulties; knowing the importance of striving for our goals. They will be prepared for the next stage of their journey and be equipped to make choices about their future aspirations. Through geography, children will learn about cultures and different places giving them knowledge of the world beyond their immediate area in order to be the best version of themselves in the wider world. We aim for our children to aspire to be global citizen thinking and caring about the world and people around them.

Life Skills

Through our geography curriculum our children learn life skills that will help to prepare them for life in modern Britain. Through our fieldwork and geographical skills lessons, children will learn how to use a range of different equipment such as atlases, compasses and aerial photographs in order to enhance their learning and knowledge of the wider world. This helps our children to be better prepared with skills  to support them as they grow older.

Geography Curriculum End Point Poster