Key Stage 2 geography · Place knowledge

Studying a region of the UK in KS2: a guide for parents

In Key Stage 2, children study one region of the United Kingdom in depth, looking at both its physical geography (such as hills, rivers and weather) and its human geography (such as towns, jobs and land use). The aim is to understand how a place works and to compare it with other places. The curriculum does not name the region, so each school chooses one, often a contrasting area from where the children live.

A region of the United Kingdom, explained

A place study is different from learning a list of facts about a county. The curriculum asks children to understand geographical similarities and differences by studying the human and physical geography of a region of the United Kingdom, a region in a European country, and a region in North or South America. Over the key stage, your child will study one of each. This page is about the first: a UK region. Which one is up to the school. England is divided into nine official regions for statistics, but schools use the word more loosely. Common choices include the Lake District, Cornwall, the Scottish Highlands, Snowdonia (Eryri) in Wales or the Antrim coast in Northern Ireland, and some schools study the wider region around their own town.

Physical geography covers the natural features: the shape of the land, rivers and lakes, coast, climate and weather, plants and wildlife. Human geography covers what people have built and done there: where people live, how they earn a living, how they travel, how land is used and how the place has changed. Children are taught that the two are linked. Steep hills are why there are few big fields, so a lot of the land is used for sheep, and the beauty of that landscape is why tourism is a main source of jobs. The best pieces of work explain a link like this instead of describing each feature separately.

Because this topic also builds locational knowledge, children need to say where the region is. They use maps at different scales to place it within the UK, name nearby cities, seas and countries, and describe how people get there by road, rail or air. Many schools use atlases and digital maps for this, and some use satellite images to spot features such as lakes, fields and towns from above.

The word “similarities” matters as much as “differences”. A common weakness is a list of differences only (“it has mountains and we don’t”). Teachers want children to notice what places share too, such as tourism, farming, schools, and shops, and to give reasons. The region children study in Key Stage 2 also builds on the small local area they studied in Key Stage 1, with more depth and more careful comparison.

Words your child will hear

Region: An area of a country that has features in common, such as its landscape, climate or way of life.
Physical geography: Natural features of a place, such as mountains, rivers, coasts and weather.
Human geography: How people live in and change a place, including settlements, jobs, transport and land use.
Settlement: A place where people live, from a hamlet or village to a town or city.
Land use: What the land is used for, such as farming, housing, industry, leisure or woodland.
Tourism: People visiting a place for holidays or days out, which creates jobs and affects the environment.
Similarity and difference: Ways in which two places are alike or unlike, which geographers explain rather than just list.

What the National Curriculum says

The programme of study for Key Stage 2 says:

Pupils should be taught to understand geographical similarities and differences through the study of human and physical geography of a region of the United Kingdom, a region in a European country, and a region in North or South America
Pupils should develop their use of geographical knowledge, understanding and skills to enhance their locational and place knowledge.

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

Try it: comparing a region with your own area

Suppose your child’s school has chosen the Lake District in Cumbria, a popular choice. Compare it with a town on flatter land, such as one in the Midlands. How are they similar, how are they different, and why?

Locate it. The Lake District is in north-west England, in the county of Cumbria, and most of it is a National Park. Find it on a map and name the nearest big cities. Then find the town you are comparing it with and say roughly how far apart they are and in which direction.
Describe the physical geography. It has steep hills and mountains, including Scafell Pike, England’s highest peak at 978 metres, and long lakes, including Windermere, England’s largest natural lake. Ice-age glaciers shaped many of the valleys. It is one of the wettest parts of England, because the hills force wet air from the Atlantic to rise and drop its rain.
Describe the human geography. Farming is mostly sheep, because the hills and thin soils suit grazing more than crops. Millions of people visit each year, so many jobs are in hotels, cafes, shops and outdoor centres. Villages are often small and roads are narrow, so traffic can build up.
Make a link. The hills and lakes (physical) are the reason for tourism and sheep farming (human). The same hills make travel harder, so fewer big factories or warehouses are built there.
Compare. Both places have homes, schools, shops and farmland, and both have roads that link them to bigger cities. The differences are that the Midlands town is flatter, drier and busier, with more types of work such as factories, offices and warehouses, while the Lake District is quieter and relies more on its landscape. If you are comparing with your own area, use what you know about it in the same way.

The Lake District and the Midlands town are similar because both have homes, schools, shops and farming, but they are different because the Lake District has steep hills, lakes and much more rain. These physical features explain why sheep farming and tourism matter so much there, while the flatter town has a wider mix of jobs.

Common mistakes and how to help

Thinking a region is the same as a town, a county or a country

Children are used to hearing the names of places at all sizes, and “region” can seem like a slightly fancier word for one of them.

What helps: Zoom in and out on a map together. Find the UK, then the region, then the nearest big town, and say which is bigger and which is smaller.

Writing about physical and human geography as two separate lists

Lists are easy to organise, and the links take more thought to explain.

What helps: Ask “because” questions: “The land is hilly, so what do people do there?” Encourage sentences that join the two sides with because, so or which means.

Only listing differences when comparing two places

Differences stand out immediately, and places in the same country can seem as if they should be identical.

What helps: Before writing, ask for two things the places share and two they don’t. Then ask why for each one.

Treating a region as if it were the same all the way through, or only as a holiday spot

Pictures in books often show just one scenic view, and children picture the place only as visitors see it.

What helps: Look for the other side: where do people work, how do they shop, how do children get to school? A place is also somewhere people live every day.

How to help at home

Two maps, two scales. Look at the region on a map of the UK and then on a larger-scale map of just that area. Ask your child to describe what changes between the two and which one is more useful for planning a walk.
Postcard from the region. Ask your child to write a postcard that mentions one physical feature and one thing people do there. Then ask them to explain how those two things are connected.
Compare with where you live. Make two columns, one for the region and one for your home area, and fill in the landscape, weather, jobs and transport. Tick what is shared, and ask why the differences exist.
Spot the land use. On a car or bus journey, point out fields, houses, woods and shops. Ask what the land is used for and who uses it. It is the same skill, applied to what is right outside the window.

Builds on

Leads on to

Key Stage 3: Place study: a region in Africa
Key Stage 3: Place study: a region in Asia
Key Stage 3: Comparing and linking places in Africa and Asia