Nightingale School

Geography

The best Geography teaching includes plenty of time spent 'in the field' exploring the real Geography of the local surroundings and environments further afield. At Nightingale our curriculum gives children both an academic understanding of the subject but also practical experiences of visiting places within and outside London. For example, in Key Stage 1 all pupils visit the beach every year to look at coastal Geography and in Key Stage 2 our camping trips in Years 4,5 and 6 allow children to visit rural areas and experience rivers, woodlands, villages and farms to contrast with the urban environment in which they live the rest of the year.

Children's knowledge of global geography is enhanced through topics such as 'Where is colder/hotter than Hackney?' in Year 1, 'The Americas' in Year 3 and 'Rainforests' in Year 4. Through Geography, children also learn to appreciate their place in the world and the importance of protecting the Environment. In Year 5 for example, our topic 'Where in the World has plastic gone?' teaches children about the origins of plastic (invented in Hackney Wick!) and how it became one of the biggest environmental threats the world is facing.

Two key topics in Key Stage 1 (Owls Around the World) and Key Stage 2 (Monkeying Around) are linked to the habitats and threats to wildlife faced by animals globally. We find this is a fantastic way to engage children with the Geography of the natural world. In Year 6 we end with a topic about 'Blue Sky Thinking' which asks children to think about how they could contribute to solving the environmental threats that the World is facing. As part of this topic they participate in a 'peaceful protest' taking their chosen message to the streets of Hackney to raise awareness beyond our school community.

You can download our complete curriculum map below.

Geography Curriculum Map.pdf

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