Geography topics explained for parents
Geography begins with continents and oceans in Key Stage 1 and builds to plate tectonics and international development by Key Stage 3. In between, Key Stage 2 covers rivers, volcanoes, trade and the countries of Europe and the Americas. Map skills grow throughout, from simple compass directions to grid references, scale and digital mapping, with fieldwork alongside.
Key Stage 1 geography
- Aerial photographs and landmarks
- Comparing two places
- Compass directions and routes
- 7 continents and 5 oceans
- Fieldwork in the school grounds
- Hot and cold places
- Towns, villages, farms and ports
- Simple maps, symbols and keys
- World maps, atlases and globes
- Coasts, seas and oceans
- Hills, rivers, forests and soil
- Seas around the UK
- A contrasting place abroad
- A small area of the UK
- UK countries and capitals
- Weather and seasons
Key Stage 2 geography
- Climate zones, biomes and vegetation belts
- Compass points and grid references
- Countries of Europe and Russia
- Atlases, globes and digital maps
- Natural resources
- Economic activity and trade
- Fieldwork: observe and measure
- Fieldwork: presenting findings
- Latitude, longitude and hemispheres
- Mountains
- North America: countries and features
- Ordnance Survey map symbols
- Prime Meridian and time zones
- A region in a European country
- A region in North or South America
- A region of the United Kingdom
- Rivers and the water cycle
- Settlements and land use
- South America: countries and features
- Tropics and polar circles
- Counties and cities of the UK
- UK land use and change
- UK regions, mountains and rivers
- Volcanoes and earthquakes
Key Stage 3 geography
- Africa: regions, countries and cities
- Asia, including China and India
- Climate change from the Ice Age
- Coastal processes and landforms
- The four sectors of economic activity
- Fieldwork in contrasting locations
- Geographical Information Systems (GIS)
- Plate tectonics and geological time
- Glaciation and glacial landforms
- Globes, maps and atlases
- How people depend on natural systems
- How people change landscapes and climate
- Rivers and drainage basins
- International development
- Comparing and linking places in Africa and Asia
- The Middle East: location and landscapes
- OS maps: grid references, scale and contours
- Population
- Place study: a region in Africa
- Place study: a region in Asia
- Rocks, weathering and soils
- Russia: the world’s largest country
- Thematic maps and satellite images
- Urbanisation and the growth of cities
- The use of natural resources
- Weather and climate