GEOGRAPHY CURRICULUM STATEMENT

Intent

Our high-quality Geography education should inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives.

The synoptic nature of the Geography curriculum provides pupils the opportunity to deepen their understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes in the formation and use of landscapes and environments. Through Geography, students build locational place knowledge and develop geographical skills through field work.

Our curriculum allows students to the opportunity to view their world from different perspectives. From a deeper understanding of the complexities of the world students should consider the social, moral, cultural and ethical issues associated with their actions and the impacts these have over space and time to make them more sustainable and engaged world citizens.

What do we want our students to be as geographers?

• To understand the interaction of human and physical geography
• To have good place knowledge
• To have geographical skills to support their understanding
• To be able to show empathy
• To understand geographical development
• To be environmentally sustainable
• To know how to be world citizens

Implementation

With our students coming from a wide range of junior schools we start with the basics of What is Geography and then essential Map Skills, and both themes continue to be revisited throughout the Key Stages.  Following this we move through topics that allow the students to build and revisit skills, which get progressively more complex as the Key Stage develops. 

We teach physical processes at the Coast in Year 7 which are revisited in Year 8 with Rivers and then Year 9 in Tectonics.  We complete each physical unit by teaching about the synoptic relationship between the natural world and the human environment.

We re-enforce the concept of understanding how the world works through the concept of country development in studying African nations in Year 7, Brazil in Year 8 and then China and also the Middle East in Year 9. 

The concept of sustainable living starts in Year 7 with African countries but mainly with Food and Farming and is developed further in Year 8 with Managing Resources and in Year 9 with the geographical issues of Wildfires, Water Stress and Peak Oil. 

Instilling a sense of awe and wonder is a common occurrence, seen particularly with coastal features, the African countries of Rwanda, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Egypt, and is picked up again in Inspiring Places and Brazil in Year 8, then with Montserrat, China and the Middle East in Year 9. 

At Key Stage 4, we cover the physical topics of Global Hazards, Changing Climate, Distinctive UK Landscapes and Sustaining Ecosystems. We also study the human topics of Urban Futures, Dynamic Development, The UK in the 21st Century and Resource Reliance.  The OCR course is designed for those enquiring minds that want to find out about the people and places that make our world so fascinating.  Each topic develops the skills to think, study and question like a geographer.  Students have a day of field work in Hunstanton and another in Cambridge during May and June; in 2024 this cost £40. Again, we revisit the skills throughout the different units and focus on exam technique throughout the course.

At Key Stage 5, we offer the OCR A-Level Geography course which includes physical topics of The Glaciated Landscape and Earth’s Life Support Systems in Paper 1 and the human topics of Changing Spaces, Making Places, Global Migration and Human Rights in Paper 2.  The third paper takes a more synoptic approach in combining the topics of Hazardous Earth and Disease Dilemmas.  Students also complete a Non-Examined Assessment project of their choosing. To support this, all students attend a four-day residential field work course in the Yorkshire Wolds to practise their skills in the field, which in 2024 took place in July and cost £375.

We provide adaptive teaching to respond to the strengths and needs of those learners whose individual differences, such as prior achievement, aptitude, or learning styles, differ.  Our teaching also encourages the review of both content and pedagogy so that students retain more information and understand how they best learn, and in particular, revise.  We provide supportive scaffolding and modelling, working through small steps to develop secure knowledge.  When checking for understanding, we prefer formative marking and a reflective approach to identify ways to move forward to obtain a high success rate.

Our enrichment activities this year include:

• Sustainable Farming visit to Moor Farm (Year 7), June 2024
• Tropical Rainforest Animal Adaptations at London Zoo (Year 8), February 2024
• Microclimates Fieldwork Investigation (Year 8), July 2024
• Water and Carbon Cycles at Nene Park (Year 9), September 2023
• Climate Change / Peterborough Schools Programme, run by Year 13 Geography prefects
• GCSE Field Work Hunstanton Year 10 Summer 2023
• GCSE Fieldwork Cambridge (Year 10), June 2024
• GCSE Field Trip Iceland “Fire and Ice” Easter 2024
• GCSE lunchtime Help Club weekly, in preparation for Mocks and Summer exams
• RGS-sponsored Year 11-13 Micro Lectures, on People, Prosperity, Planet, Partnership & Peace - 16 November 2024
• GIS Workshops from Geographic Data Visualisation Consultants (OS Maps), February 2025
• A-Level Fieldwork long weekend in Cranedale, Yorkshire (Year 12), September 2023
• Sixth Form A-Level Geography Mentoring programme, led by Year 13 Geography Prefects

We are also subscribed to the Royal Geographical Society (RGS), STEM Learning Limited, Channel Talent and many major universities, so we regularly broadcast online lectures in School, or advertise with students for home access.

Impact

Our Key Stage 3 results are strong, with an average Subject Progress Index (SPI) of almost half a grade higher than flight path predictions. Our internal pupil survey in Year 9 revealed a strong department with robust standards on teaching and behaviour with good content and a wonderful range of supportive activities and extra-curricular opportunities.

Our Key Stage 4 results were also strong with an average Subject Progress Index (SPI) of 0.75 in 2023, so on average students were two thirds of a grade higher than predictions. Students commented on engaging lessons and gave positive feedback on which we continue to build.

At Key Stage 5 our results were in line with national averages. 40% of students went to study Geography or a geography-based course at degree level. Many use Geography as a facilitating subject to go on to follow a science-based course in biology, medicine or biochemistry. A-Level student comments were also extremely positive, especially about the marking feedback and the super-curricular opportunities on offer to broaden their understanding.

100% of lessons are judged as outstanding. 

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Department Staff

Mrs S Gray (MSG): Head of Geography Department
Mrs A Amps (AMA): Teacher of Geography and AST
Dr J Combrink (XJC): Teacher of Geography