Geography Curriculum  

Principles and Purpose of our Geography Curriculum

The purpose of the Geography curriculum is to inspire curiosity in students, and a fascination about the world and its people. Geography provides students with knowledge of diverse places, people, resources, and natural and human environments, with a deep understanding of the Earth’s physical and human processes. The Geography curriculum prepares students for each stage of their academic journey but also the world beyond the classroom by ensuring that young people can think like geographers and use their geographical knowledge to make sense of the world.

Our Geography curriculum, creates a climate of ‘no limits learning.’ It allows our students to explore the world around them and understand the world they are living in. We want to develop our students as Global Citizens, with every lesson being underpinned by the Rights of the Child. We develop student’s inter-disciplinary skills through teaching a broad and rich curriculum, leading to an attitude of limitless ambitions. We unlock powerful knowledge; that takes students beyond their everyday experiences, no matter their socio–economic background. Through our curriculum, we study the interrelationship between physical and human Geography; so that students can not only see themselves and their place in our world, but also experience the lives of others at a global scale. We deliver education with character through inspiring those we teach to emanate personal responsibility and develop critical thinking skills, so that every student in every year group fosters a curiosity and interest for Geography as a lifelong learner.

The following principles have informed the planning of our Geography curriculum:

• Entitlement: Our Geography curriculum meets and exceeds the requirements of the National Curriculum. It ensures that students develop a secure knowledge of a range of places, natural and human environments, with a deep understanding of the Earth’s physical and human processes. The Geography curriculum ensures that all students understand the world in which they live, regardless of their starting point in Year 7 or whether they take the subject onto GCSE.
• Coherence: Our curriculum takes a thematic approach, where knowledge is acquired, developed over time, and finally applied to places via in-depth case studies. Regional units allow the content covered throughout a year to be revisited, therefore securing the knowledge gained over the course of a year in the context of a particular place/ region.
•  Mastery: Prior knowledge is regularly revisited throughout the curriculum where it is built upon and applied to new contexts. The scheme of work document shows where each lesson fits within the entire curriculum and illustrates how geographical knowledge and skills are secured before moving on. An example of this is how students need to be able to explain physical processes before human and physical interrelationships can be accurately explored.

• Adaptability: Teachers amend and change curriculum resources, case studies etc. to meet the needs of their own classes, and to ensure that local geographical issues are considered. They are responsive to students learning and will revisit learning not yet mastered or provide more in depth scaffolding if a student or students are finding accessing the work challenging.
• Representation: A diverse range of places, people and environments are encountered within the curriculum which helps students to develop a broad and balanced view of the world. The curriculum ensures a fair representation of the places studied to avoid a single story and to broaden pupil understanding of different people, places, and environments.
• Education with character: The curriculum provides opportunities for students to share, reflect and learn about the different lived experiences for people at a local, national, and global scale. It also engages students with the big geographical debates of today and the future. This develops a fascination with place studies and allows students to take part in informed geographical conversations beyond the classroom/ curriculum.

For more information regarding the curriculum content, ‘what we teach, why it is taught and when’ please view our curriculum maps below.

To access additional learning resources to support students learning in Geography please refer to Knowledge Organiser (KS3), The Regis SP (KS4) and our primary learning platforms, Oak Academy and Seneca.