This project is studied in the Autumn Term, and although it is not a main Geography project, it looks at how geographical features can change over time. The children will understand the processes that give rise to key physical and human geographical features of the world, how these are interdependent and how they bring about spatial variation and change over time.

By looking at maps from the 1950s and comparing them to the same place in the present day they can begin to see changes over time. They will identify the features on the map and be challenged to look for ways that land use has changed over time. The children will be encourage to describe what has changed and think about why this might be

This project is Year 1’s main Geography project.   It teaches children about the physical and human characteristics of the United Kingdom, including a detailed exploration of the characteristics and features of the capital city, London. They will be introduced to the United Kingdom map, and children will be encouraged to locate each country and its capital city, using the key and labels. The children will then use compass directions to describe where the countries are in relation to each other e.g. Scotland is North of England. They will explain that the United Kingdom is a union of the four countries, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales and the children will think about where they live on the map. The children will talk about how near or far those countries are from the place they live.

This project will encourage the children to use basic geographical vocabulary to refer to key physical features of the United Kingdom, including: beach, cliff, coast, forest, hill, mountain, sea, ocean, river, soil, valley, vegetation, season and weather. Also, the children will begin to use basic geographical vocabulary to refer to key human features, including: city, town, village, factory, farm, house, office, port, harbour and shop. In particular, they will be encouraged to name and find their nearest cities on a map.

The children will use simple fieldwork and observational skills to study the geography of their school and its grounds and the key human and physical features of its surrounding environment. They will begin to explore their own local area through studying maps and visiting the surrounding environment.

This project will enable children to identify seasonal and daily weather patterns in the UK and the location of hot and cold areas of the world in relation to the Equator and the North and South Poles. They will use symbols to record the daily weather and begin to identify patterns in daily and seasonal weather.

The children will look at London in more depth, using Google Earth, aerial photographs and maps. They will explore the location and size of London and key features of our Capital city. They will be able to describe the characteristics of London using geographical vocabulary and they will be able to identify famous London landmarks such as Royal Albert Hall, Tower Bridge, Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace and Monument to the Great Fire of London. They will use simple directional and positional language to give directions, describe the location of features and discuss where things are in relation to each other. 

The children will also look at other capital cities around the world, leading onto a more detailed look at Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia. They will make comparisons between London and Kuala Lumpur through studying their human and physical Geography enabling them to identify the similarities and differences between the two.

This project is studied in the Summer Term and although it is not a main Geographical project, it enables the children to carry out fieldwork tasks to identify characteristics of the school grounds or locality. They will talk about the address of the school including the road, village, town or city, county and postcode, and use Google Earth and maps to locate the position of the school. The children will explore the satellite images of the school and use the zoom tool and Street View function to identify features, such as the car park, playground and wildlife area. They will create their own labelled sketch map. Fieldwork tasks, including map work and observation, can help the children gain a better understanding of the characteristics of our school, its grounds and the local environment. They will explore the local environment around the school, looking at physical and human features. They will draw their own picture maps of their locality and devise a key using symbols.

This project also looks at how pollution and litter affects the local environment and school grounds. They will be asked questions such as, where do you think this litter has come from? Why is it here? What can we do about it to improve the littering problem? After gathering their ideas, they will have the opportunity to share their ideas with the school or the local council.

Finally, this project takes them back to Victorian times to make comparisons using maps and photographs of their local area now and in the past. They will look at the geographical features and how these have changed over time.