Curriculum Intent

As a department we would like our students to experience a sense of awe and wonder as we explore the geography of the world and UK. As we move through Years 7 to 13, students will develop knowledge and understanding of the processes and interactions that shape the world and the UK. We shall promote diversity through the students’ studies developing cultural awareness and respect of different communities, including our own British values. We shall encourage our students to be active global citizens through their development of an understanding of the importance of sustainability and the future of the world. Throughout this process we shall be developing and revisiting geographical skills that students can then use in later life.

Put simply, we aim to provide an engaging curriculum, exploring different aspects of geography and providing students with an insight on the world in which they live.                           

Ambition of KS3 Curriculum:

• Successful learners who show a love of Geography, and seek to make good progress and achieve their potential.
• Inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives.  Pupils need to know that we are all Geography.
• A broad and balanced curriculum that cover physical, human and environmental Geography.
• A sense of freedom & flexibility to cover world events as and when they take place.
• Geography is an inherently interesting, challenging and useful subject in its own right.

Aims, linked to the curriculum (National Curriculum and Specification criteria)

The aims of the Geography Department at UAH has been influenced by the purpose and aims of the National Curriculum (DfE 2013) and the OCR Specifications that we follow at GCSE and A Level, which highlight areas that we feel are particularly important in the 21st Century. These aims are:

1. Encouraging awe and wonder - “curiosity and fascination about the world” (DfE 2013)

2. Exploring processes and interactions – “understand the processes that give rise to key physical and human geographical features of the world” (DfE 2013)

3. Developing a sense of personal responsibility and relationship - “improve their understanding of the ways in which values, attitudes and circumstances have an impact on the   relationships between people, place and environment, and develop the knowledge and ability to engage, as citizens, with the questions and issues arising” (OCR 2016)

4. Increasing locational knowledge of the world - “develop contextual knowledge of the location of globally significant places” (DfE 2013)

5. Developing and mastery of essential geographical skills - “competent in the geographical skills” (DfE 2013)

Implementation - How is the curriculum delivered?

It is the assumption that basic geographical skills and concepts are introduced at primary school and the expectation is that students will be able to access those skills and concepts on arrival in Year 7. The curriculum overviews show the sequence of topics taught during KS3 along with the skills and concepts which we aim to develop accordingly. The intention of the Geography Department is to progress the use of skills and concepts, as well as revisit to embed skills and commit to the long term memory of the students, in each year of Key Stage 3, as indicated by the overviews.

The Geography curriculum is divided into themed modules of work which are generally completed within a half term (At Key Stage Three). The aims are then incorporated into each themed topic.

At GCSE we follow the OCR B specification – Geography for Enquiring Minds.  We have used the textbook from Oxford as a basis for our lessons but we have adapted them to support our students as well as including our own materials.  Links between units are made by staff to aid the student’s understanding.

At A Level we follow the OCR specification and we use the Hodder textbook endorsed by OCR to support learning.

In Key Stages 3 and 4, students will have 2 hours of Geography a week.  In Key Stage 5, this increases to 5 hours a week.

Fieldwork is incorporated for the year groups.  In KS5 students are required to undertake a minimum of 4 days fieldwork.  At GCSE students need to undertake 2 sessions of fieldwork (one human and one physical).  We aim to provide fieldwork in KS3 for each year group whether it be on the school site or off.

We endeavour to use a variety of digital resources for virtual fieldwork, e.g. Google maps, Google Earth, photos, maps and a variety of resources to enable students to access the curriculum.