Our Geography Curriculum Book

Mount Carmel Values

Our aim is for every child to leave here an Ambassador of Christ.
Our values are deeply rooted in the high expectations that we have of each child in the school. Our Values permeate across the school through children's learning, friendships, behaviour and leadership.
Our values come from the Church.

C - consideration
H - helpfulness
U - unity
R - respect
C - commitment
H - honesty

Our British Values

Our children learn about our British Values through 5 areas. These are discussed at whole school liturgies and during lunch times. We are committed to serving our community, with the strong belief that we are one school for all.

Our Power Values

Our aim is for every child to leave with the power to make a positive change in the world. Through our subjects there are five themes that we believe are integral with teaching children how to become powerful adults.

We ensure that these themes run through our subjects. Children learn about 5 areas of power - Education, Religion, Resources, People and Legacy.

Our aim for your child by the time they leave Mount Carmel.

By the time your child leaves Mount Carmel, in Geography they will

 develop contextual knowledge of the location of globally significant places – both terrestrial and marine – including their defining physical and human characteristics and how these provide a geographical context for understanding the actions of processes
 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
 are competent in the geographical skills
 be able to collect, analyse and communicate with a range of data gathered through experiences of fieldwork that deepen their understanding of geographical processes
 interpret a range of sources of geographical information, including maps, diagrams, globes, aerial photographs and Geographical Information Systems (GIS)
 communicate geographical information in a variety of ways, including through maps, numerical and quantitative skills and writing at length.

The Power of Learning

EYFS

Children will learn about the immediate environment, introducing and
modelling new vocabulary where appropriate.
Familiarise children with the name of the road, and or village/town/city the
school is located in.
Look at aerial views of the school setting, encouraging children to comment
on what they notice, recognising buildings, open space, roads and other
simple features.
Offer opportunities for children to choose to draw simple maps of their
immediate environment, or maps from imaginary story settings they are
familiar with.

Children will focus on Ealing. The children will develop
locational knowledge based on the view from the school and local walks. They
will build place vocabulary to define where they live, which is deepened
through fieldwork experiences and using maps.
Children will draw maps of Northfields.

The children will also use and add to a
classroom plan and practise sequencing events on a journey.
Look up children’s addresses, mark them on a map and use parents’ local
expertise and community insight. Reinforce their vocabulary through looking at photos and sketches.

Children will revise the different
continent and ocean names, and should also know where they live, as well as the
‘layers’ and ‘areas’ of the world that lie between any teaching of ‘here’
(local) and ‘there’ (beyond). They will be developing an increasing ability to recognise, visualise and locate themselves in the world at
different ‘scales’ as they refine their ideas of the world as a whole. Children
will think
of choosing alternative ‘wonders’: are they in any way representative of a
country or continent? Most aren’t especially, and may lead to stereotyping,
therefore using a range of images of one place or environment is always
important to give children a rounded view.

How Locational Knowledge is taught across the school

Children will begin to understand the
Earth better as a sphere, learning to rotate it mentally in 3-D. They will
explore its representation in 2-D maps, and learn about the imaginary lines
used (Equator, latitude, longitude, tropics and the International Date Line) to
pinpoint global locations.

The children, inspired by Johnny Cash singing ‘I’ve been everywhere’, travel the North and South American continents, and distinguish between the terms ‘continent’, ‘region’, ‘country’, ‘state’ and ‘city’ along the journey. Children will make notes on cities and record their countries and/or states. They will compare the built environments and settings of the cities and, through them, identify some key regions of the American continents.

Children will find out about the regions
of the UK, discovering how some of these areas have changed over time. The
children will research how specific areas of the UK have been affected by
change, before conducting a fieldwork activity in Ealing.
Children will be able to look at developments over time to predict what changes may happen in Ealing in the future.

As the children move towards the end of
their primary school careers and prepare to move to secondary schools, they
will consider the past, present and future of their local area. They will learn
to see change as positive and to feel optimistic about the changes that lie
ahead. They will work on the vision of Ealing
and what it will look like in 25 years time.

The Power of Learning

EYFS

Children will learn about places in the world that contrast with locations they
know well.
Use relevant, specific vocabulary to describe contrasting locations.
Use images, video clips, shared texts and other resources to bring the wider
world into the classroom. Listen to what children say about what they see.
Avoid stereotyping and explain how children’s lives in other countries may be
similar or different in terms of how they travel to school, what they eat, where they live, and so on.

Children will take four different world
journeys. Starting with their local area, they then look at coastal,
rainforest, dry (desert) and world city locations. Virtual and imagined
journeys are important for children to
look for similarities and contrasts? Children will learn to balance images and specific case study
examples, even within a lesson, allows children for challenges against
stereotypes and misconceptions.

Children will be able to link the
everyday experience of buying and eating food within the UK with the children’s
growing geographical understanding of the world. Children will visit local
shops. This will begin to show the connections between what we
buy, where it comes from locally and how it might be able to be sourced from
the UK (and beyond).

How Place Knowledge is taught across the school

Children will learn about the coast of
the British Isles. Many children will have been to the seaside, and may have
enjoyed playing on the beach. Children will consider some of the advantages and disadvantages of living by the coast, and how much of the UK’s coast has changed from a focus on fishing to one on tourism. They will also be introduced to a few contrasting coasts in Benidorm, and associated environmental issues, extending their coastal and locational knowledge and encouraging critical thinking and presenting an argument.

Children will learn about the water cycle
and, as the key concept is that water flows downhill, looks at mountains, the
source of many rivers. It looks at how people interact with rivers as well as
their geographical features. A case study features one of the UK’s major
rivers, the River Thames. Cameos of some of the world’s great rivers and
mountain environments are included to extend children’s geographical knowledge.

Children will learn about the Alpine region of Europe, how the Alps were formed and how homes are adapted to the climate. They create a storyboard or digital book on mountain formation, design an Alpine home, and produce literature for visitors to the area using geographical vocabulary.

Children find out about the Amazon region
of South America, considering what it is like to live in the region as well as
how it is being damaged and how it can be protected. The children build on
previous work that they have learnt on rainforests and climate, esp in North America

The Power of Learning

EYFS

Children will understand by draw children’s attention to the weather
and seasonal features.
Provide opportunities for children to note and record the weather. Select texts to share with the children about the changing seasons.
Throughout the year, take children outside to observe the natural world
and encourage children to observe how animals behave differently as the
seasons change.

Children will have a geographical context
to their interests in, and prior knowledge of, animals through a study of five
continents. It looks at pandas, penguins, sharks and elephants, as well as
lesser-known birds, such as the swallow. Children will also also focus on specific landscapes, people and
issues associated with real places. It starts by showing what these animals’
homes are like and addressing misconceptions they might have.
Children will have a chance
to develop a wider perspective and mental map of the geography of the continent, countries and landscapes that the animals live in. What is important is that they start to see why these creatures live there.

Children will learn about weather and
seasons. They will focus on the local area, as well as looking at the wider
perspective of the UK. Simply looking out of the window, collecting data in the
playground and thinking about what is happening around them, can be perfect
ways to support making sense of a changing world. The children will observe,
spot seasonal patterns and talk about changes by using weather-related
vocabulary.

How Human and Physical Geography is taught across the school

Children are introduced to different ways
of communicating geographical data, particularly through different styles of
maps. They will learn to read weather and climate maps, and learn how weather
and climate are generalised into world climate zones. The
concept of biomes will be explored, each with distinctive climate, soil, flora,
fauna and human activity. Children will know the difference
between weather and climate.

Children will learn how
our
earth is dynamic and ever-changing. Children will explore the dynamism of the
earth, learning about its structure, look particularly at the causes and
distribution of earthquakes and volcanoes and their effects on landscape and
people. They will be introduced to the ‘Pacific Ring of Fire’, the most active
region on earth, and consider why people choose to live on the flanks of
volcanoes and in earthquake zones when both can be life-threatening. They will
learn that volcanoes have existed throughout geological time, and that there
are several different types.

Children will find out about the UK’s
global trade links, investigating where everyday products come from and the
journeys they take to our homes. This builds on work children have done in KS1
looking at the geography of food. The children will also map the journeys taken
by items, and research the pros and cons of buying local or imported goods.
Children will describe and understand key
aspects of human geography, including: types of settlement and land use,
economic activity including trade links, and the distribution of natural
resources including energy, food, minerals and water.

Children will consider if we are damaging
our world and how we can protect it. The children will investigate energy
production, the oceans and minerals, as well as conducting an enquiry into how the school can become more sustainable.
Children will learn that around the world glaciers and ice sheets are retreating, the overall health and diversity of wildlife is declining, human numbers are increasing and natural resources are over-exploited. These are worrying trends and many people believe we need to take firm action to address these problems.

The Power of Learning

EYFS

Children will write a letter to Santa and will go and post the letter. Children will have a look at The Jolly Postman and their journey of how to post a letter. They will look at what they see on their journey from school to the post box.

Children will visit local shops. This will begin to show the connections between what we buy, where it comes from locally and how it might be able to be sourced from the UK (and beyond).