Contact Us
- 0151 922 1467
- admin@bedfordps.co.uk Email Us
- Bedford Primary School, Quarry Road, Bootle, Merseyside, England, L20 9LJ
Bedford Primary School
Dream, Believe, Aspire
Contact Us
Contact Us
'Geography is about more than just memorising places on a map. It's about understanding the complexity of our world, appreciating the diversity of cultures that exists across continents. And in the end, it's about using all that knowledge to help bridge divides
and bring people together.'
Barack Obama
Our vision for geography:
At Bedford Primary we are passionate about educating our children to be citizens of the globe. Through our engaging and challenging geography curriculum, our children are given the opportunity to explore our ever changing planet and to develop the skills to understand its physical and human features.
Skills needed to be a Bedford Geographer:
Our Geography curriculum:
Throughout their primary journey, our pupils are taught the four skills strands:
Location Knowledge - in which pupils are given the opportunity to explore and locate the countries of the United Kingdom and the wider world. They also explore the seven continents and several regions of the world, looking carefully at human and physical characteristics and topographical features (including mountains, hills, coasts and rivers).
Place Knowledge – in which children are encouraged to identify and explore the similarities and differences between a region of the United Kingdom and another country in the world.
Human and Physical Geography – in which our pupils are taught to describe and understand key aspects of weather, climate zones, biomes and vegetation belts, rivers, mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes and the water cycle. They are also taught to explore and understand some key aspects of human geography such as settlements, economic activity and trade links, and natural resources.
Geographical skills and Fieldwork – in which children are taught the important skills of using maps, atlases, and digital computer mapping to describe the features of regions and places they have studied. Our pupils are also taught to use compass points, grid references and map keys. At Bedford we aim to teach these skills with hands on experiences in our locality.
Substantive Concepts in Geography:
Pupils undertake two geography units of study per year. Our unique Geography curriculum has been carefully designed to ensure that four substantive concepts are taught and revisited every year, allowing pupils to make links across the curriculum making connections to previous learning and building foundations for future units of study. These substantive concepts are:
Water - throughout the curriculum, children learn how water is essential to sustain life and help crops grow. They develop their understanding of the ways in which ports, rivers and coastlines are pivotal to the development and survival of settlements and cities.
Weather & Climate - children learn that climate determines what grows in different places and how it affects how people live their lives and make money. As they travel through school, they learn how to read weather data to compare climates across the world.
Settlement and Land Use - children learn the different ways people make money and how geography plays a huge part in this. Throughout the curriculum, children have the opportunity to study how Liverpool (as a port) is an area of economic activity and compare this to other locations in the world.
Economic Activity - children learn the reasons why settlements develop and throughout the curriculum will identify the key features of successful settlements.
Each unit of study is carefully planned to ensure these concepts are included and prior knowledge and key vocabulary are considered
Use of Google Classroom and Google Earth
At Bedford Primary, we endevour to use technology whenever we can to strengthen children’s understanding and knowledge. Our pupils are given the opportunity to use Google Earth to further develop their understanding of maps and aerial photographs. This is an important part of our Geography curriculum but is also utilised in other areas of the curriculum to help children make connections across their learning.