Intent

Within the Geography department we believe that Geography is the subject that enables students to best understand and value the world they are growing up in.  Geography occupies an especially important place in the curriculum of today’s students. It is the subject that will best allow them to understand and value the world in which they live. It enables them to learn about their local area, whilst at the same time showing them the diversity that exists across the planet.

Our curriculum seeks to build on the locational knowledge and basic skills that have been developed by the KS2 curriculum by introducing ideas and concepts which are central to the effective study of Geography. Our curriculum aims to produce highly competent geographers who demonstrate an appreciation of the demands of the subject, and as result, have a strong awareness of the complexity and diversity of the world in which they live. We want students to communicate effectively and think critically, and in doing so, acknowledge the unique physical and human characteristics of different places, as well as the challenges that they face. We are seeking to develop skilled geographers who are able to work effectively with a broad range of sources including maps, statistical data, geographical models and diagrams, and who, over the course of the curriculum, develop their capacity to successfully implement these skills as part of geographical enquiries and fieldwork. Alongside their development as geography students, our curriculum is also designed to produce well-rounded young citizens who are able to consider the challenges facing our changing world, who understand the need for balance between the economy, society and the environment and who accept the need for us to create and move towards a more sustainable future.

KS3:

The curriculum is built around key geographical concepts such as place, scale, development, globalisation, processes, and sustainability. These run throughout the curriculum and are revisited in different guises, to ensure a depth of knowledge amongst our students. The key stage 3 curriculum is deliberately ambitious in its breadth, so that all students are challenged, consideration has also been given both in terms of its design and delivery, to ensure that needs of all learners are met, including those with SEND. It allows students to deepen their geographical knowledge and understanding, regardless of their starting point, by studying topics which cover varying aspects of geography such as settlement, industry, tourism, glaciation, and ecosystems. The content studied is reinforced and enhanced through the use of real-life examples, which feature prominently throughout. The geography of the UK runs throughout the curriculum, with opportunities to study the local area of Sheffield being incorporated wherever possible, and students are also be able to develop their understanding and awareness of the wider world as the continents of Africa, Asia are explored via the use place studies focussing on Lesotho, South Africa and Indonesia.

The KS3 curriculum of course, also aims to effectively prepare students for KS4. Care was taken whilst planning the curriculum, to ensure that the aspects of the GCSE specification, which underpin the broadest range of content, and which students had also found more challenging under previous curriculum models, were covered in greater detail and, where appropriate, were introduced at an earlier stage.

KS4:

At GCSE students follow the Eduqas B GCSE 

Students follow the AQA Geography specification, and, as well as incorporating many of the common threads from the key stage 3 curriculum, it also builds on them to provide the students with a deeper understanding of the geographical concepts involved, whilst at the same time, pushing them to consider a greater complexity of issues and challenges from both physical and human geography. The GCSE course allows our students to continue to engage with their local area and the UK more broadly, with units such as the ‘Changing UK Economy’ and the requirement to use a UK city as a case study when exploring urban issues (Sheffield in our case), as well as continuing their growth as globally aware, outward looking young people, through the study of units such as ‘Resource Management’, Natural hazards (including climate change) and the ‘Changing Economic World’.

Both the Key stage 3 and the GCSE specification recognise the importance of fieldwork skills in the creation of competent geographers. The key stage 3 curriculum aims to develop and build the skills of effective data collection and presentation over time, whilst the GCSE specification provides an opportunity for students to complete full fieldwork enquiries in both human and physical geography. The curriculum as a whole has been designed to provide sufficient opportunity for students to formulate geographical questions, to collect, present and analyse data, and to critically evaluate their own work. These skills will be central to their success as geographers whilst at school, however they will also serve them extremely well as they move on to further and higher education.

Future prospects:

Indeed, this curriculum will ensure that students leave school with the ability to successfully pursue further study, as well as a broad range of careers including academia, law, finance, environmental management, teaching, town planning, public services, politics, business, events management, logistics and journalism.

In addition to these direct links to employment, the curriculum design means that it also offers much, to students whose career ambitions may lie elsewhere. Cultural capital is implicit within the study of geography; in the appreciation of diversity and empathic skills that come with it, however the design of this curriculum is such that the development of cultural capital can be seen throughout. The curriculum allows students to learn about and appreciate their local area and its history by studying the nearby Fox Valley development at key stage 3 and 4, and by having Sheffield appearing as a focus throughout the curriculum. At the same time, the curriculum also aims to challenge student’s ideas about the world, and raise aspirations, by showing them the diversity of experience across the UK and the rest of the globe. This is aided by work with Sheffield University and the RGS, whose student ambassadors visit every year to discuss higher education and careers. Finally, our students are given opportunity to learn beyond the classroom on no fewer than six educational trips, and they are encouraged to engage with documentaries, podcasts, and extended reading to broaden their horizons.

The aim of our curriculum is to produce students who are as well informed as possible about the world in which they are going to live and the challenges that it faces. We hope that the breadth of content and the opportunity to increase their cultural capital will help to shape conscientious and considerate young people, who have all the tools that they need to succeed in realising their potential and who can have a positive influence on the communities in which they live.