Geography Year 5

Our Year 5 geography curriculum deepens children’s knowledge and understanding of key concepts and further develops their geographical skills. Children will build on their prior learning, expanding their knowledge of maps of the world, the UK, the role of data in geography and mountain ranges around the world. In Upper Key Stage Two children now grapple with concepts such as biodiversity and will look closely at how physical and human geography interact. Their disciplinary understanding will continue to develop as they learn about gathering data and how geographers use data to explain what it is like to live in a place.

Building on knowledge from previous years, pupils will study maps of the world looking closely at hemispheres, longitude and latitude, coordinates and map scale. Relief maps are introduced and pupils learn what they tell us about the shape of landscapes. Pupils will study mountain ranges across the world, deepen their knowledge of UK Geography through regional studies. Pupils will also undertake a study of their local area, collecting, interpreting and communicating data focused on a local issue. Building on their world knowledge, pupils will study Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific Islands. They will study the human and physical geography of these regions including climate and biomes and will learn important history of Aboriginal populations in Australia and the Maori in New Zealand.

Our geography curriculum introduces pupils to substantive concepts including:

• Spatial sense
• Mountains
• UK geography: East Anglia, the Midlands, Yorkshire, and Humberside
• Australia
• New Zealand and the South Pacific
• A local study

We equip our partner schools with the necessary resources to effectively teach the PKC geography Year 5 curriculum to their pupils. Resources include lesson plans, curriculum maps, subject overviews, and subject and unit rationales.

Alongside the above resources, we provide every PKC Geography teacher with:

• Geography subject knowledge resources
• Knowledge organisers for each unit
• Assessment and multiple choice quizzes
• Access to CPD training and resources
• Key vocabulary database and people databases

To gain a better understanding of the geography curriculum, we encourage all geography subject leaders to attend our “Dive into geography” CPD series. These sessions include six pre-recorded videos followed by a live session with our curriculum team. By attending this session you will be able to apply our geography curriculum with confidence within your schools.