Key Stage 2 geography · Locational knowledge

KS2 UK counties and cities: a guide for parents

In Key Stage 2, children learn to name and locate counties and cities of the United Kingdom on maps and in atlases, and to describe where they are in relation to each other. The curriculum does not list which counties or cities to learn, so schools choose, usually starting with their own area and the best-known places across the four countries. Knowing where places are gives children a mental map of home that underpins everything else in geography.

Counties and cities of the UK, explained

The statutory wording asks pupils to name and locate counties and cities of the United Kingdom. That is all it says, so there is no official list. Most schools start close to home, with the child’s own county and nearest city, and then widen out to well-known counties such as Kent, Devon, Cornwall, Norfolk, Lancashire and Yorkshire, and to the main cities of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Children use atlases, wall maps and digital mapping, and describe a place by its position: which direction it is from another place, and what lies around it.

Counties can be confusing because there are several kinds. Historic counties date back hundreds of years. Ceremonial counties are the areas used for ceremonial purposes and often shown on maps, and councils run administrative areas, which do not always match either. Yorkshire is a good example: it was once a single huge county and is now shown as North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and the East Riding of Yorkshire. Scotland and Wales are now divided into council areas, but many people still use the older county names, so children may meet both. Northern Ireland has six traditional counties: Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry and Tyrone.

Cities are the second half of the objective. London is the capital of England and of the whole UK, Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland, Cardiff of Wales and Belfast of Northern Ireland. Other cities children commonly meet include Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, Bristol, Sheffield and Nottingham in England, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee in Scotland, Swansea in Wales, and Derry or Londonderry in Northern Ireland. A city is not defined by size. City status is granted by the monarch, so a few cities are small, such as Wells in Somerset and St Davids in Pembrokeshire, while some large towns, such as Reading and Northampton, are not cities at all.

Geography helps explain why cities are where they are. Many grew beside rivers or on the coast, where trade was easy: London on the Thames, Newcastle on the Tyne, York on the Ouse, Bristol on the Avon and Glasgow on the Clyde. Others grew around coal, iron or wool during the Industrial Revolution. Noticing these patterns turns a list of names into reasoning, and it helps children remember where things are.

At this age, the goal is secure knowledge of the cities and counties your child has studied, not a perfect map of the whole UK. Children practise locating places on a blank outline, using compass directions to describe them, and finding them again through the atlas index. They also begin to understand that the same area can have different names on different maps, which is a useful early lesson in how maps are made.

Words your child will hear

County: An area of a country with its own name and boundary, used for local government and identity, such as Kent or Devon.
City: A place that has been granted city status, often with a cathedral or a long history.
Capital: The city where a country’s government sits. London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast are the UK’s.
Atlas index: An A to Z list that tells you which page and grid square a place is on.
Compass direction: North, south, east, west and the points in between, used to describe where a place is.
Boundary: The line on a map that marks where one county, region or country ends.
Ceremonial county: A county area used for ceremonial purposes and shown on many maps, such as West Yorkshire.

What the National Curriculum says

In Key Stage 2, pupils should be taught to:

Name and locate counties and cities of the United Kingdom, geographical regions and their identifying human and physical characteristics, key topographical features (including hills, mountains, coasts and rivers), and land-use patterns; and understand how some of these aspects have changed over time
Use maps, atlases, globes and digital/computer mapping to locate countries and describe features studied

Objectives from the National Curriculum in England, © Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Try it: locating a city

Use an atlas to describe where the city of Leeds is.

Look up Leeds in the atlas index. It gives a page and a grid square. Turn to the map of northern England and find the square.
Name the county. Leeds is in West Yorkshire, one of the counties that make up the old county of Yorkshire.
Describe the position using compass directions. Leeds is in the north of England, on the eastern side of the Pennine hills. It is north-east of Manchester and south-west of York.
Name nearby places. Bradford is just to the west, Wakefield is to the south, and Sheffield is further south again.
Add a physical feature. The River Aire flows through the city centre, and this was an important route for trade and for powering mills.

Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, in the north of England. It lies on the River Aire, east of the Pennines, north-east of Manchester and south-west of York. Bradford is close by to the west.

Common mistakes and how to help

Thinking a city is just a big town

In everyday life, cities are bigger than towns, so size feels like the rule.

What helps: Explain that city status is granted. Look at a very small city such as St Davids and a large town that is not a city, such as Reading, and ask what the difference might be.

Mixing up counties and countries

Both words begin with “count”, and children are learning England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland at the same time as dozens of counties.

What helps: Say that England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are countries, and that counties are smaller areas inside them. Draw a quick diagram with Kent inside England inside the UK.

Assuming there is only one correct map of the counties

Historic, ceremonial and administrative counties differ, so children find that a book, a road atlas and a website disagree about where a boundary is.

What helps: Treat it as a clue rather than a problem. Check the title or key of the map and note which kind of county it shows.

Thinking the capital is always the biggest city

London is both, which makes it feel like the rule.

What helps: Compare Scotland’s two cities. Edinburgh is the capital, and Glasgow is the largest city. Ask your child to find both on a map.

How to help at home

Find your county and your nearest city. Look up where you live in a road atlas. Name your county, the neighbouring counties on each side and the nearest city, and describe the position using compass directions.
Plan a journey. Choose a city your family has visited or would like to visit. Use an atlas to find which counties the route passes through, and which rivers you would cross.
Postcard and place-name hunt. When you see a place name on a parcel, a sign, a postcard or a sports result, find it on the map together. Is it a town or a city, and which county is it in?
Blank map challenge. Print or draw an outline of the UK and ask your child to add the four capitals, then five more cities, then three counties. A few minutes once a week is enough, and you can mark the ones they remember.

Builds on

Leads on to

Key Stage 3: Africa: regions, countries and cities
Key Stage 3: Russia: the world’s largest country
Key Stage 3: Asia, including China and India
Key Stage 3: The Middle East: location and landscapes