Hordle

If the Earth……

 

If the earth were only a few feet in diameter, floating a few feet above a field somewhere, people would come from everywhere to marvel at it. People would walk around it, marvelling at its big pools of water, its little pools and the water flowing between the pools. People would marvel at the bumps on it, and the layer of gas surrounding it and the water suspended in the gas. People would marvel at all the creatures walking around the surface of the ball, and at the creatures in the water. The people would declare it sacred because it was the only one, and they would protect it so that it would not be hurt. The ball would be the greatest wonder known ………… if the Earth were only a few feet in diameter.

Adapted from a Greenpeace leaflet

Geography at Hordle Walhampton, attempts to foster an awe and wonder about the planet that the children inhabit. It tries to put into a framework that they can understand, the information that they see on television and the internet, that they read about and the places they visit, such as when they go on holiday.

The subject is concerned with the study of places, the human and physical processes which shape them, and the people who live in them. Geography helps pupils make sense of their surroundings and the wider world in which they live.

Aims

q To help pupils to develop a knowledge of their world by looking at

a) the interdependence of people, places and environments throughout the world and the development of the human environment.

b) how the surface of the earth was created and its effect on the human population.

c) local, national and global events where relevant to the above.

q To stimulate the children’s interest in their surroundings and in the variety of human and physical conditions on the earth’s surface.

q To foster the children’s sense of wonder at the beauty of the world around them.

q To help children to develop an informed concern about the quality and future of the human and natural environment.

q To enhance the children’s sense of responsibility for the care of the earth and its people (with particular reference to the future and sustainability).

Objectives

· To investigate and learn about the physical and human features of their own environment and appreciate how their locality is similar to and different from other places. To this end, fieldwork is vitally important as a teaching tool, and the children are frequently taken out to various locations such as the Dorset coast, a local river, Mull in Scotland and locally in Lymington.

· To encourage the children to ask geographical questions such as …… Where is it? What is it like? How did it get like this? By providing the situations that encourage these questions, the children may be more inquisitive and open minded about the world in which they live.

· To develop and use geographical enquiry skills including use of various sources such as their own knowledge and experiences, fieldwork, textbooks, photographs, newspapers, videos, DVD’s, maps, IT and the internet.

· To be interesting, relevant and also ……fun!

Geography is taught by a specialist teacher from year 5 to 8 in a specific classroom set aside for the subject, preparing children in Year 8 for Common Entrance and scholarship examinations. In years 1 to 4, the subject is taught by form teachers. Geography has three 30 minute lessons in years 7 and 8 with a 25 minute prep and two lessons in the rest of the school, with preps for 25 minutes in years 5 and 6. In the younger years of the school, the subject is taught through cross curricular topics.

 

Geography is probably one of the most important subjects, because where we are now is a result of where we have come from and where we are going in the future is a result of where we are now. Where we are now is what Geography is all about.