The Rosary Catholic Primary School

Supporting Geography Learning at Home

At The Rosary Catholic Primary School, we encourage children to be curious about the world, its people and its places. Families can support geography learning through everyday experiences such as exploring the local area, following a map, observing the weather or finding out where our food comes from. Talking about journeys, landscapes and life in different countries helps children make connections between their own experiences and the wider world. The websites below offer resources from EYFS to Year 6, including maps, games, videos and practical activities. We hope they inspire children to explore, ask questions and develop an understanding of how we can care for our shared home.

Exploring Places and the Wider World

Website	Suggested age range	What families will find
BBC Bitesize – KS1 Geography	Years 1–2	Videos and activities introducing places, weather, maps and the world around us.
BBC Bitesize – KS2 Geography	Years 3–6	Resources to explore human and physical geography, including settlements, rivers, mountains and climate.
National Geographic Kids – Geography	Years 1–6, with adult support for younger children	Photographs, facts and articles about countries, people, landscapes and natural wonders.
National Geographic Kids – Geography Resources	Years 1–6	Resources exploring places, weather and environments. Some downloadable resource sheets require a subscription.
Royal Geographical Society – Geography at Home	Mainly Years 3–6, with adult selection	Links and ideas for extending geography learning beyond the classroom.
Royal Geographical Society – School Resources	Years 1–6, with adult selection	Resources organised by topic and key stage, exploring places, landscapes and geographical skills.

Maps, Directions and Location

Website	Suggested age range	What families will find
Ordnance Survey – Mapzone	Mainly Years 3–6	Activities and games to develop understanding of maps and geographical vocabulary.
Ordnance Survey – Primary Resources	Reception–Year 6, with adult support	Resources to introduce and develop map skills, including materials for younger children.
Google Earth	EYFS–Year 6, explored with an adult	A digital globe for exploring countries, coastlines, mountains and cities using satellite imagery and 3D views.
Google Maps	EYFS–Year 6, explored with an adult	Maps to investigate familiar places, plan routes and compare local features with places further away.
Google Earth – Education	Years 3–6, with adult selection	Ideas and resources for exploring the world through digital maps and satellite imagery.
Royal Geographical Society – Map Skills	Years 1–6, with adult support	Activities introducing maps, symbols and scale.
World Geography Games	Mainly Years 3–6	Quizzes to practise locating countries, continents and oceans, alongside other geographical features.
Seterra – Geography Quizzes	Mainly Years 3–6	Map quizzes to develop knowledge of countries, capitals and locations. Adults can select a manageable region or topic.

Weather, Climate and Our Changing Planet

Website	Suggested age range	What families will find
Met Office – Learning Resources	Mainly Years 3–6, with simpler activities selected for younger children	Resources to explore weather, climate and the science behind them.
Met Office – Weather Exploration	Years 3–6, with adult support	Visual explanations and features about clouds, storms and weather around the world.
NASA Climate Kids	Years 4–6	Child-friendly explanations and activities about climate, energy and the environment.
NASA Space Place – Earth	Years 3–6	Articles and activities about Earth, including weather, water and how our planet is studied from space.
British Geological Survey – Discovering Geology	Mainly Years 4–6, with adult support	Information about rocks and the processes that shape our planet, including volcanoes and earthquakes.

People, Communities and Caring for Our World

Website	Suggested age range	What families will find
CAFOD – Geography Resources	Years 1–6, with adult support	Photographs, information and activities to explore places and communities around the world.
CAFOD – Primary Resources	EYFS–Year 6, depending on the resource	Resources to explore our global neighbours, care for creation and Catholic Social Teaching.
Oxfam – Education Resources	Mainly Years 3–6, with adult selection	Activities about global issues, including food, water, climate and the lives of people around the world.
Oxfam – Water at Home	Years 3–6, with adult support	Home-learning activities exploring water and its importance in people’s lives.
WaterAid – Teaching Resources	EYFS–Year 6, depending on the resource	Resources that help children explore water, the environment and access to clean water around the world.
WWF – Families	Years 1–6, with adult support	Activities to explore nature, learn about wildlife and consider how we can care for the environment.
WWF – Go Wild	Years 2–6	Wildlife facts, games and features that support learning about animals and their environments.

Outdoor Exploration and the Local Area

Website	Suggested age range	What families will find
National Trust – 50 Things to Do Before You’re 11¾	EYFS–Year 6, with adult support	Outdoor challenges that encourage children to observe weather, explore landscapes and connect with nature.
Woodland Trust – Children and Families	EYFS–Year 6	Seasonal activities and ideas for exploring woods and noticing changes in the local environment.
The Wildlife Trusts – Families	EYFS–Year 6	Ideas for exploring local habitats and discovering nature close to home.
Wildlife Watch – Activities	EYFS–Year 6	Spotting sheets and outdoor activities to help children observe and record features of their surroundings.
Royal Geographical Society – Primary Fieldwork	Years 1–6, adapted by an adult	Ideas for investigating places through first-hand observation, including local settlements, weather and rivers.

Making the most of geography at home: Encourage your child to notice and describe the places around them. Younger children could draw their journey to school, talk about familiar landmarks or keep a simple weather chart. Older children might plan a route, compare two places or investigate where everyday products come from. Useful questions include “What is this place like?”, “How is it different from where we live?” and “How do people use and change this environment?”

Information for families: Age ranges are suggested starting points. Some resources were designed for schools and may need an adult to select or adapt them for home use. Some websites require an account or offer optional paid content. Explore digital maps together and choose outdoor activities appropriate for your child.

Intent

At The Rosary Primary School, pupils are encouraged to develop a greater understanding and knowledge of the world, as well as their place in it. Geography is a knowledge rich subject and enables our children to develop knowledge and skills that are transferable to other curriculum areas e.g. understanding of other cultures links with British Values; climate change and pollution of our seas and rivers links with RE and how we are stewards of the Earth.

As not all class teachers are geography specialists, we have designed a clearly sequenced curriculum that is rich in knowledge and that asks questions of our children as they study each topic. This encourages deeper thought and reflection. In our programme, these questions are denoted by the term Rosary Geographer. Teachers can however include their own ‘take’ on a topic and adapt the delivery to a way that suits their own class.

Our aim is for our children to know more and to remember more in geography. We aim for them to know more by making the core knowledge for each topic explicit. We aim for them to remember more through the use of knowledge organisers and the use of Working Walls which highlight make links with other learning.

We aim that our children will:

develop a broad range of geographical vocabulary, particularly relevant as 84% of our children speak English as an Additional Language
have a sense of curiosity and enjoyment and to participate in independent and self-directed research
have experience of Cultural Capital in a variety of different forms by exposing them to a wide range of experiences; school trips, experience days, and to study the significance and diversity of people and cultures
be resilient, independent and self-motivated by participating in class debates and discussions on current geographical topics where they are able to express themselves and boost their confidence and self-esteem
to be global citizens of the twenty first century by seeking to inspire in our children a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people which will remain with them for the rest of their lives. Through approaching geography in this manner, we encourage an interest and understanding of diverse places, people, resources, and natural and human environments as well as an interest in our planet’s future and the issues this presents.

Implementation

We measure the impact of our geography curriculum through the following methods:

In Class Feedback

In Geography, we understand that feedback in linked to progress and has to be timely to make an impact. In-class feedback is used to support teacher’s workload.

Assessment

Geography is a subject that embraces discussion and reflection. Teachers therefore assess oral contribution in lessons i.e. the confidence and ability of a pupil to express ideas based or based upon opinion and perspective.

Our children complete a Big Question at the end of each geography topic (Year 2 to Year 6) to show their understanding of key geographical knowledge.

Teaching Assistants and Interventions

Teaching assistants may be used in geography lessons in the following ways:

to support the writing/language element of a task
to encourage pupil debate in small groups
to encourage the use of accurate geographical vocabulary

School reports

Attainment in geography is reported to parents at the end of the school year.

At The Rosary Catholic Primary School we believe that geography is an integral part of understanding our place in the world and how we can contribute to its future.

Aspire, Believe, Achieve: Together in Christ.

21^st Century World; 21^st Century Learners

Useful Geography Websites

Supporting Geography Learning at Home

Exploring Places and the Wider World

Maps, Directions and Location

Weather, Climate and Our Changing Planet

People, Communities and Caring for Our World

Outdoor Exploration and the Local Area

Intent

Implementation

Useful Geography Websites

Year 1: Where Do I Live?

Year 1: Amazing Animals

Year 2: Contrasting Localities

Year 2: Transport

Year 2: Under the Sea

Year 3: Natural Disaster!

Year 3: Perfect Planet?

Year 4: Water, Water Everywhere!

Year 4: Heston Detectives

Year 5: Contrasting Regions

Year 5: United Kingdom Explorer

Year 6: Explorers/North and South America