Geography

Locational knowledge

We ensure that children have a secure understanding of where they are in the World and it is essential that children know where they are locally and how their locality links to significant places nearby and nationally. Children understand where places and events take place in the news as well as understanding the features of our planet. This is key to understanding our world.

How has Tean changed?

Place Knowledge

It is vital that children understand what the place they are studying is like, describing the climate and what the land looks like. Fundamentally, children should be able to describe what it would be like to live there.

The village of Tean takes its name from the River Tean on which it stands. It was a village dominated from the 18th to the 20th centuries by a local manufacturing industry and by the family which developed and managed it. The village of Tean is a valley.

The River Tean

This short river is a tributary of the River Dove; it is just 14.6 miles (23.5 km) from its source at Dilhorne to its confluence with the Dove east of Uttoxeter. The river flows generally in a southeasterly direction.

Human and Physical Geography

Using a range of maps, atlases and globes, children use different sources to discover urban and rural places, the industries in which it thrives, and its transport links. It covers how the land was formed, and how it has changed over the years. Children investigate how rivers, mountains and volcanoes as well as how they are formed! They discover how these physical features shape the world and how we can work towards a more sustainable future. 

Tean/Cheadle railway

Tean railway station was a railway station located on the Cheadle Branch Line at Totmonslow and Staffordshire. It was opened as "Totmonslow "in 1892 and was the terminus of the line until it reached Cheadle in 1901. The station was renamed in 1906 after the village of Upper Tean, which was located around a mile east of Totmonslow. It was never well used and closed in 1953, having by then been reduced to a halt. 

The Mill

The mills at Upper Tean were developed by the Philips family in 1747. From the early 19th century, the Philips’ built large buildings to house the looms. The whole mill complex at Tean eventually became known as Tean Hall Mills. It was a successful tape-weaving business, producing high quality tape for a variety of uses both at times of peace and at times of war. The mill buildings stood empty for some time but have now been converted into apartments. Weavers’ cottages can still be seen in Upper Tean.

 

Geographical Skills and Fieldwork

All of the above is taught using practical fieldwork, where children enjoy the outdoors collecting live data to use within the classroom, as well as using a range of maps, scales, atlases and sources of information. Across the school, Children use Digimap to view different styles of maps! Not only does this widen their knowledge of maps, it also encourages their Digital Literacy!

"Geography is a subject which holds the key to our future"

Actor, writer, traveler  - Michael Palin 

"The study of Geography is more than just memorising places on a map, it's about understanding the complexity of our world"

American President - Barack Obama

"It's surely our responsibility to do everything within our power to create a planet that provides a home not just for us but for all life on earth."

Presenter, conservationist  - Sir David Attenborough