Our Geography curriculum helps pupils understand how the physical world and human decisions together shape the places people live, both in the UK and around the globe. In Years 7 and 8, they study topics as varied as ecosystems, urbanisation and climate change, and at GCSE they go on to natural hazards, growing cities, global development and the management of food, water and energy, carrying out fieldwork of their own along the way. We want pupils to leave as curious, capable and genuinely ‘worldly’ geographers who can use evidence to make informed decisions about the issues facing the UK and the wider world.
Reading like a geographer
Pupils learn to read maps, graphs, photographs and models for patterns before they try to explain anything. Pupils also learn to treat numbers as evidence too, calculating an average or spotting a trend before drawing a conclusion. In Year 7, that might mean reading climate graphs to understand how rainfall and the UK’s climate varies or studying images to evaluate the impact of flooding.
Speaking like a geographer
Pupils use precise geographical vocabulary to describe places and processes, and we push them to explain an impact from every angle, whether social, economic or environmental, rather than stopping at the most obvious one. We give pupil’s question stems like ‘Why’ or ‘How’ to unpick what evidence a photograph can offer. We also regularly use vocabulary tests at KS4 to imbed geographical language and ensure pupils routinely use terms such as biodiversity or tectonic activity.
Thinking like a geographer
Geography asks pupils to make decisions about real issues, not simply to describe them. Pupils learn to weigh evidence and theory, and to judge significance by setting social, economic and environmental impacts against each other; for example, they might consider whether a stretch of coastline should be protected and at what cost.
How we teach it
In Years 7 and 8, pupils build their understanding of human and physical geography side by side, often through contemporary issues, and the same core skills of map work, locational knowledge, data interpretation and geographical maths are taught deliberately and then applied regularly. At GCSE, the course is divided between the physical environment, the human environment and the skills of applying geography to real problems, including a fieldwork investigation. Prior learning is secured through regular recall questions at the start of lessons.
How we check understanding
In lessons, pupils are challenged to express their understanding of Geography verbally. Every half term, pupils sit an assessment that gives them a score for their factual knowledge, their application of this knowledge and their ability to evaluate key concepts and ideas. At GCSE, pupils answer a mix of exam-style questions, skills tests and regular vocabulary tests. Pupils learn how to improve through model answers, teacher assessment and dedicated next step tasks.
How we support every learner
Lessons are adapted through various scaffolding strategies that include the use of imagery to make abstract concepts tangible, sentence starters and other methods so that every pupil, including those with SEND or EAL, can read, explain and make decisions about the world like a geographer. Pupils are pre-taught key vocabulary before they see it in texts to enable them to better understand geographical developments and this is checked and imbedded into lessons and work.
What great looks like
Years 7, 8 and 9
Pupils locate places accurately and read a map, graph or photograph to identify a pattern, then explain why the pattern exists using geographical terms rather than everyday language.
Pupils explain the causes and consequences of an event such as an earthquake, sorting its impacts into social, economic and environmental, and then judge which were most significant, backing that judgement up with data.
Years 10 and 11
Pupils understand fundamental geographical processes, both human and physical, and build a core understanding of GCSE Geography.
Pupils collect and analyse data from their own fieldwork and can apply and use various case studies in Geography.
Pupils develop can fully explain a range of geographical processes and developments and can evaluate them and their impacts.
Help at home by…
- Talking about a natural hazard or extreme weather event in the news and asking why it happened and why it hurt some places more than others. That chain of cause and consequence is exactly how we want pupils to think.
- Using a map or atlas together, whether you’re planning a journey or finding a country mentioned in the news. Knowing where places are underpins everything else in the subject.
- Looking at real numbers together, such as a weather forecast, rainfall figures or local population data, and asking what they show. Pupils use the same maths skills in their lessons.
- Watch a quality news programme such as the BBC news, wildlife documentaries and encourage your child to take notice of the land use around their local area
