At Queen’s Hill Primary School, we strive for excellence in Geography. The study of geography at Queen’s Hill stimulates an interest in and a sense of wonder about places. This happens as soon as you enter the school...
Our rationale for both the topics covered and the teaching strategies used is to enable young people make sense of a complex and dynamically changing world. It explains where places are, how places and landscapes are formed, how people and their environment interact, and how a diverse range of economies, societies and environments are interconnected.
From the Foundation stage and Key stage one we ensure that the children have an understanding of themselves in their own locality and can relate this to the rest of the world. This is achieved by using world maps, getting to know each child and their links across the globe, teaching subject specific vocabulary and undertaking local field work.
In Key stage 2 children continue with the fieldwork as an essential element of their studies while extending their knowledge and understanding beyond the local area which includes European countries and North and South America. They will explore a range of the world’s most significant human and physical features such as rivers, volcanoes and natural disasters.
By the end of KS2 our aim is that all children are able to confidently navigate around the world using atlas, maps and digital technology and be able to use geographical vocabulary to explain human and physical differences of countries from around the world in readiness for their secondary education and more importantly to succeed as global citizens! At a time when topics such as climate change, water availability, natural resources are as important as ever. These example are much easier understood by those who know geography well. We believe that geography delivered in this way will help children to maximise their potential and become successful and happy learners.
Subject in Action
Roll up, Roll up – It’s the year 1 circus!
As part of their history learning, Year 1 have been finding out all about Pablo Fanque. Children have enjoyed learning about how he was born in Norwich and changed his name to Pablo Fanque when he joined the circus. He became the first black circus owner in the 1800s. The children were amazed that he … Read more
Year 3 Stone Age Day
On Thursday, Year 3 kicked off their history Stone Age topic with an action-packed experience day. They spent the day working as historians, using different replica artefacts to help them learn about what life was like during the Stone Age and test different theories using the evidence we have. After meeting some Stone Age people, … Read more
Year 1 DT – Fruit kebabs
As part of our Design Technology lessons, children have been learning about the design cycle – Design, Create, Evaluate. Alongside this in Geography, we have been thinking about food and where it comes from. To bring this learning together, we decided to make our own fruit kebabs. Children designed their fruit kebabs, then made them … Read more
DT: Mayan Block Printing
Block printing with string is an easy, textured printmaking technique where string is glued onto a block in a specific pattern, to act as a raised, inked surface. The string-covered block is inked with paint and stamped onto paper to create a unique design. Year 6 used their creativity and challenged themselves to incorporate some … Read more
Year 3 Castle Trip
This week, children in year 3 had the fantastic opportunity to go to the newly refurbished Norwich Castle to learn more about the Ancient Egyptians. During the day, children learnt about the different Egyptian gods and spotted their trademarks on real artefacts, many of which were over 3000 years old! They also learnt what everyday … Read more
Ancient Maya: Inventions
Learning about the different inventions of the Ancient Maya civilisation, Year 6 created a visual map filled with lots of important information. We showed curiosity and concentration to find out information about the invention of spicy chocohlaa, their number and letter system and their famous calendar. All of this information will then be used when … Read more
Y3 History – The Pyramids
This week, Year 3 have been continuing their exploration of Ancient Egypt by considering who built the ancient pyramids in Egypt. They had to hunt for different historical evidence around the classroom and decide whether it supported or opposed the common idea of slaves being the pyramid builders. As a class, these ideas were discussed … Read more
Volcanoes!
Reception have continued to learn about the world and this week we have been looking at volcanoes. We learnt about where we could find volcanoes and how they are formed. We made some class volcanoes using junk modelling and papier-Mache and then did an experiment of a chemical reaction to make the volcano explode!
Time and Tide Museum Trip
Year 6 had a fantastic trip out to Great Yarmouth to visit the Time and Tide Museum. We travelled back to 1941 when Great Yarmouth was in the thick of the action as a ‘front line town’. Year 6 discovered how the war affected people on the home front and met an ARP warden, housewife, … Read more