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Geography at YWJS

Geography Statement of Intent

Resilient Respectful Inspired Curious

Geographers at Yeadon Westfield Junior School

Geography inspires in children a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people. We teach Geography with the aim of equipping children with knowledge about people, resources, natural and human environments, in Yeadon and around the world. We also aim to inspire and inform children with knowledge about diverse places around our exciting world, in ways that is meaningful and relevant to them.

As children progress through YWJS, their growing knowledge will help them to deepen their understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes, and of the formation and use of different landscapes. Each year, children build on their developing geographical skills and show confidence and resilience in a range of skills such as map reading, comparing and contrasting a range of places in the world and securing place and locational knowledge as they go. Geography skills such as map reading, and orienteering are supported in PE lessons and on the school residential. Place and locational knowledge are supported during themed weeks such as Fairtrade Fortnight where children use maps to identify where key Fairtrade foods are grown.

By the end of Key Stage 2 at YWJS, our aim is that children will leave with the geographical knowledge, understanding and skills that allows them to explain how the Earth’s features, both in their local area and places further away from Yorkshire, are shaped, interconnected and changed over time. As their knowledge and respect of our world grows so will their ability to challenge, question and reflect on their own viewpoints. It is our wish for children to have a strong knowledge of place and location, as well as become globally aware of their impact on the planet, taking responsibility for their actions in an ever-changing world.

YWJS Geography Long Term plan

YWJS Geography Skills Progression

Geography Key vocabulary.pdf

YWJS Geography Policy - under review.doc

Spring Term 2026 - Year 5 - Geography Muddy Puddle Day

Year 5 had a wonderful Muddy Puddle Day starting to create their own 3D Art installations linked to our Earthquake work in Geography. These will be showcased later in the term in our exhibition called 'Aftermath' so watch this space.
We created our own mini Earthquake scenes in a room including detail such as mini furniture. We also had great fun creating our own earthquake cracks in the playground!

Geography displays across the school

Please follow the link below to have a look at the wonderful

'Our Powerful Planet' Thing in the Hall project, focusing on geography.

Our Powerful Planet (The Thing in the Hall!) - Jan 2019

Cycle A - Y3 Summer: How have coasts and rivers changed over time? Trip to Nell Bank.

In this geography unit of work we have been pond dipping, hunting for mini beasts and learning about different features of rivers.

Cycle A - Y3 Summer: How have coasts and rivers changed over time? Trip to Nell Bank

Cycle A - Y4 Summer: How have coasts and rivers changed over time? Trip to Nell Bank

Cycle A Y3 Spring: Yorkshire: What is it like in Yorkshire?

Cycle A Y4 Spring - How are mountains formed?

Y5 Summer - Biodiversity and fieldwork - A Day Out In Esholt Woods

On our journey to Esholt woods we used an ordnance survey map to pinpoint physical and human features along the way. In the woods we explored the area by Guiseley Beck using our maps and learning about the features shown on it. In small groups we then used quadrats to observe the range of plants and animals living in a woodland habitat to gauge biodiversity.

Y4 Summer: A Trip To Nell Bank for rivers and coasts

We went to Nell Bank as part of our Rivers and Coasts topic. We found the source of a river and followed it down to the river bank. In the afternoon we hunted for mini beasts in and out of the water and categorised them according to the number of legs which links to our Science topic of Living things and their habitats.

Year 6 Spring: North American Studies

We completed 5 activities learning about Native Americans:
• Making homemade baked beans around the campfire. (Almost everyone helped make and eat the baked beans.) They tasted great!
• Making dream catchers - the native Americans believed that a dream catcher web could ward off bad dreams and evil spirits.
• Totem poles - each tribe would have had their own totem pole carved from a tree to represent their morals, values and families or important animals. We had a go with clay at making our own figures and stacking them up to make totem poles.
• Making talking sticks - an important part of native American democracy - the talking stick was held by the chief to command respect and passed around to allow everyone to have a voice in turn at community meetings
• Navajo design - The native Navajo tribe create to this day geometric rugs in eye-catching designs. We had a go at designing our own.

In the afternoon, we planted potatoes and onions to grow ready to harvest later in the year.

Year 5 Spring: Earthquakes Muddy Puddle Day

We started off our Muddy Puddle Day with links to our geography earthquakes work. First we designed our own earthquake-proof buildings. Then we went outside and made them out of marshmallows and spaghetti!!! Finally we tested them!

Y5 Spring: Earthquake inspired art during Muddy Puddle day.

Year 5 Spring - Physical geography: Where do earthquakes occur? We investigated tectonic plates and where earthquakes happen across the world.

Year 4 Spring: Creative Writing (Mountains)

We pretended to go on an expedition in the hall climbing over obstacles and hills/mountains as Jordan Romero would have done when he became the youngest person to climb the seven summits. We wore backpacks for effect! We used this to stimulate our creative writing.

Y3 Spring: Volcanoes- Physical Geography: What is the structure of the Earth?

Y5 Summer - Eco-schools: Biodiversity and fieldwork

Fieldwork - What is the biodiversity of our school grounds and why does it need protecting?
1 - Biodiversity audit of the school grounds. We used a map of YWJS school grounds to find human and physical features.
2 - We then examined the biodiversity of one area of the school grounds by placing a quadrat in that area. We sketched the area, created a tally chart of what we saw and used magnifying glasses to find out more information.
3 - We re-designed the nature garden to maximise biodiversity, remembering the importance of making it pollinator friendly.
4 - In the afternoon we put our gardening skills to work and updated the nature garden, adding new flower beds and redesigning the bug hotels to improve the biodiversity of our school grounds.

Y4 Summer - Eco-Schools: Global Waste Reduction

The children debated the question 'How can we help and encourage a reduction in waste locally and globally?' Today we worked in groups to produce campaigns aimed at companies that are not very environmentally friendly.  The children came up with ways to advise these big companies how to be more environmentally friendly and produce less waste. The companies the children named have been caught doing 'greenwashing'.

Y3 Summer: Fieldwork - Geographical Muddy Puddle Day

We worked in pairs and used our geographical knowledge of regions of the United Kingdom to answer questions on our orienteering course. For example: What region is to the North of the West Midlands?
We then conducted a survey of the frequency in colour of cars that passed our school. It was quite tricky to keep a count, so we used a tally table to record our results and then answered questions relating to our findings, back in the classroom, we drew a bar chart.

'You can travel the seas, poles and deserts and see nothing. To really understand the world you need to get under the skin of the people and places. In other words, learn about geography. I can't imagine a subject more relevant in schools. We'd all be lost without it'

Michael Palin