The geography curriculum will ensure that pupils can make sense of the world around them. The curriculum will provide pupils with knowledge of a range of diverse places, people, resources, natural and human environments, and a deep understanding of the Earth’s physical and human processes. Pupils will develop the skills to be able to think like geographers, empowering them to critically engage with current and future geographical debates beyond the classroom.
Entitlement
The geography curriculum meets and exceeds the requirements of the National Curriculum. It ensures that pupils 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 pupils understand the world in which they live, regardless of their starting point in Year 7 or whether they take the subject onto GCSE and beyond into higher education.
Coherence
The 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
The curriculum has been carefully sequenced to introduce pupils to a variety of places, geographical concepts, processes, and issues. The thematic approach ensures that knowledge is acquired, developed over time, then applied via in-depth case studies. Prior knowledge is regularly revisited throughout the curriculum where it is built upon and applied to new contexts. Each lesson fits inside the entire curriculum story and allows students to secure geographical knowledge and skills before moving on. For example, in year 7 students learn about development and how we categories countries development based on a range of information. At this point students apply their understanding to a range of different countries and contexts including the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mali, two countries found within the continent of Africa. This then supports their understanding when they move into year 8 when they start to learn about population and can apply their understanding when looking at population pyramids for Uganda.
Adaptability
In Geography, we aim to deliver a curriculum which is accessible to all students, regardless of starting points. Lesson and curriculum resources are designed and adapted to meet the needs of the demographics and context of our school, and to ensure that local geographical issues are considered, including by visiting local areas to conduct fieldwork. We intend that students will develop confidence in the subject and thrive on their love of learning.
Representation
Our missions is to develop good people, and the skills learnt will enable students to enter the world beyond Heath Lane as a good citizen and a perceptive, adaptive and valued member of society. A diverse range of places, people and environments are encountered within the curriculum which helps pupils 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. Lesson materials are adapted to best suit the context of the pupils and communities which we serve.
Education with character
The curriculum provides opportunities for pupils to share, reflect and learn about the different lived experiences for people at a local, national, and global scale. It also engages pupils with the big geographical debates of today and the future. This develops a fascination with place studies and allows pupils to take part in informed geographical conversations beyond the classroom/ curriculum.