Geography
What our children say about Geography
EYFS- Ivy and Arthur ' ‘I like making messy maps and using large construction to make London City.
Year 1- Evie and Vinnie ‘I like looking at maps to find the equator, we use globes to compare different countries.
Year 2- CeCe and George ‘I like going out into the village and invesitgate where we live, we compare where we live to others too'.
Our Vision for Geography
Our vision for Geography is to inspire every child to explore, understand and appreciate the world around them. Following the National Curriculum, we provide a rich and engaging geography education that helps children make sense of their local area, the wider United Kingdom and the diverse world beyond.
We want our children to develop self-belief as young geographers- confident in asking questions, investigating places and sharing their ideas. Through exciting, hands on learning experiences we nurture a sense of happiness and curiosity as children discover the wonders of our planet, from local landmarks in Brentwood to far away environments and cultures.
We encourage independence by giving children opportunites to explore maps, observe their surroundings and make simple geographical decisions for themselves. Our teaching is rooted in nurture, ensuring every child feels supported, valued and able to succeed regardless of their starting point. We celebrate each child's achievements and guide them to aim for excellence, developing strong geographical knowledge, skills and understanding.
How we teach Geography
Our Geography pedagogy is built on the belief that young children learn best through exploration, curiosity and meaningful real world experiences. In the infant phase Geography helps children make sense of their iummediate surroundings before gradually widening their understanding of the United Kingdom and the wider world. We teach Geography through hands on learning, purposeful talk, outdoor experiences and carefully structured enquiry that encourages children to notice, question and describe the world around them. Our approach follows the National Curriculum while remaining developmentally approriate for early learners. We focus on building strong foundations in locational knowledge, place knowledge, human and physical geography and early geographical skills such as observing, mapping and describing environments.
What children learn and achieve
Our Geography curriculum is designed to be inclusive, ambitious, and accessible for all learners. We teach Geography through a carefully sequenced approach that builds pupils’ knowledge of place, space, scale, and human–physical interactions, while also developing the disciplinary skills needed to think like a geographer. Lessons combine explicit teaching, rich vocabulary instruction, enquiry-based learning, and opportunities for pupils to apply their understanding in meaningful contexts.
Through fieldwork, outdoor learning, local studies and meaningful global connections, we help children build a deep awareness of their place in the world and the responsibility we all share in caring for it. Children leave our school with a love of Geography, a strong sense of identity and a growing understanding of the world they belong to.
Enrichment
Through these approaches, we ensure that Geography is a subject where every pupil can succeed. By adapting teaching to meet diverse speech, language, communication, and social needs—and by grounding learning in both lived experience and the local context—we create a curriculum that is inclusive, engaging, and empowering.
How We Embed Local Context
Local fieldwork — Pupils investigate their immediate environment todevelop geographical skills by visiting our local village.
Connections to the community — Lessons link global concepts to local examples, helping pupils understand how geography shapes their own lives.
Place-based comparisons — We use the local area as a starting point for comparing physical and human features with contrasting regions.
Geography vocabulary progression at Doddinghurst Infant School
MRS LAURA SALMON
Geography Subject Lead
Hi I’m Ms Salmon I am passionate about the world around me, hands on experiences visiting the local areas and further afield engaged ore and wonder.
How families can help at home
