The geography curriculum aims to provide the students with a broad understanding of the world and its relation to them. We encourage students to question their surroundings and be curious to develop an enquiring mind. The curriculum teaches students how to evaluate information and data critically and develop skills such as observing, collecting, analysing, mapping, and communicating geographical information, allowing them to apply them across other subjects at school and beyond education.
Year 7 – place-based curriculum to develop a grounded understanding of the world. Our geography enquiries are grounded in place knowledge, helping students practice the geography skills they learn through the lens of topical locations and events. We study the UK for local knowledge, the Middle East to understand economic and social growth and the developing links to the BRIC economics. This leads to a study of Russia to understand the growth of a modern superpower and the human rights implications of growth.
The place-based curriculum supports students in building on their primary school learning and developing a deeper understanding of place alongside developing geographical skills. These skills include describing trends, questioning, inferring, interpreting graphs, and explaining using a geographical lens - skills that permeate all of out other years and topics.
In years 8 and 9, our curriculum moves to thematic understanding. Ideas and thematic geography support the developing depth of knowledge moving towards GCSE and a more comprehensive understanding of the world. The concepts of natural hazards, coasts and economic development are complex and multi-layered. Students learn about case studies from many locations to support the links between place and theme. Years 8 and 9 builds on the fundamental principles and geographic skills from Y7, namely describing trends, interpretation, cardinal points, evidence-based explanations, key term use and disciplinary literacy. We emphasise understanding contemporary geographical issues such as climate change/sustainability links, diversity and equality links, which we believe helps students to develop enquiring minds.
We follow the Edexcel B specification at GCSE due to it developing UK and global geography and then supported with a decision-making exercise, enhancing the student’s ability to use the ‘assess’ framework developed in KS3. The course includes fieldwork to the coast and city to develop contextual understanding in depth. The wider course supports a rich knowledge understanding of the world and the complex links which exist between the different aspects of physical, human and environmental geography.
We follow the Edexcel specification at A-Level. In Year 12, the optional focus is on Coasts - building on the concepts from Y8 and Y10 and embedding the examples used (Holderness coast). This focus also allows students to see how the island they live on is rapidly changing and the associated human conflict/management issues. Students also study the regeneration of cities in-depth and learn about the larger scale topics of globalisation and natural hazards to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the planet.
The human aspect is Health, Human Rights and Intervention which builds upon students’ knowledge from the earlier Superpowers unit. The A-level teaches students to evaluate the impact of worldwide interventions and for opinions to be justified. Students also study fluvial systems and water in-depth, two critical systems in crisis and explore the larger-scale topic of superpowers which builds on globalisation.
Year 7 – place-based curriculum to develop a grounded understanding of the world. Our geography enquiries are grounded in place knowledge, helping students practice the geography skills they learn through the lens of topical locations and events. We study the UK for local knowledge, the Middle East to understand economic and social growth and the developing links to the BRIC economics. This leads to a study of Russia to understand the growth of a modern superpower and the human rights implications of growth.
The place-based curriculum supports students in building on their primary school learning and developing a deeper understanding of place alongside developing geographical skills. These skills include describing trends, questioning, inferring, interpreting graphs, and explaining using a geographical lens - skills that permeate all of out other years and topics.
In years 8 and 9, our curriculum moves to thematic understanding. Ideas and thematic geography support the developing depth of knowledge moving towards GCSE and a more comprehensive understanding of the world. The concepts of natural hazards, coasts and economic development are complex and multi-layered. Students learn about case studies from many locations to support the links between place and theme. Years 8 and 9 builds on the fundamental principles and geographic skills from Y7, namely describing trends, interpretation, cardinal points, evidence-based explanations, key term use and disciplinary literacy. We emphasise understanding contemporary geographical issues such as climate change/sustainability links, diversity and equality links, which we believe helps students to develop enquiring minds.
We follow the Edexcel B specification at GCSE due to it developing UK and global geography and then supported with a decision-making exercise, enhancing the student’s ability to use the ‘assess’ framework developed in KS3. The course includes fieldwork to the coast and city to develop contextual understanding in depth. The wider course supports a rich knowledge understanding of the world and the complex links which exist between the different aspects of physical, human and environmental geography.
