Our intent is to make our students aware of the world around them and able to think about real current world issues.
Our Key Stage 3 curriculum is broad ranging and designed to get students interested in geographical issues and build a foundation of knowledge to aid them if they choose GCSE Geography.
Our GCSE curriculum is taught from Year 9 to 11 and covers 7 units including human and physical geography. Students are encouraged to investigate the topics beyond what is taught in lessons and the assessment cycles really focus on understanding rather than pure knowledge.
We raise the aspirations and ambition of our students by:
• Developing a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes and the challenges that we are currently facing as a planet whilst charting a more sustainable future.
• Studying key skills to provide the frameworks and approaches that explain how the Earth’s features at different scales are shaped, interconnected, change over time and what the future might hold.
Our students develop confidence and resilience through:
• Learning about other countries, places, cultures and beliefs, as well as their own which in turn develops meaning and a sense of place in the world.
• Experiencing success and progress through assessments of knowledge, understanding and skills developed through a broad and balanced curriculum.
• Ensuring that knowledge develops into deeper understanding and meaningful cognitive schema for students by synthesising links across the topics taught and regular practice of knowledge recall.
We create awe and wonder in and out of the classroom by:
• Creating a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives, through passionate teaching and real-world live examples.
• Connecting real experiences to the classroom by offering fieldtrip opportunities to embed knowledge and taking learning outside the classroom to see Geography in action.
We help students achieve at KS3, KS4 and beyond by:
• Deepening understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes, and of the formation and use of landscapes and environments which will be explored through fieldwork opportunities.
• Equipping students with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments at a range of local, regional and global scales.
• Preparing them thoroughly for their external and internal examinations through Pre-Public Examinations and regular practice of exam questions in lessons and for home learning.
• Using extensive retrieval practice and low stakes testing to ensure knowledge is embedded and develops into richer, long term cognitive schema through the AAA model and rigorous feedback.