The curriculum aims to provide students with the key knowledge and enquiry skills used in the field to understand geographical environments, how they are changing in today’s world, and the challenges faced both local and globally. The intent is to create learning experiences that engage student’s interest in geography and its significance when dealing with major global issues of our time (e.g., environmental degradation, global warming, and sustainable development).
High achievement standards and aspirational targets are set with the aim of developing self-directed learners who are capable of being responsible and productive in their interactions with the environment. A distinctive feature of geography at HV is the emphasis on developing students’ ability to be metacognitive in their learning, which is the capability to be aware of how one is learning, thinking, and feeling about things in the world. Central to being metacognitive is the effective use of critical and creative thinking skills, as well as the ability to reframe problems and empathize with the perspectives of people from diverse cultures. This intends to make geography more real world focused, making it a meaningful and challenging learning experience for our students.
The curriculum also supports the wider HV attributes and seeks to maximize students’ learning potential in these areas.
Implementation
There are three broad strands within the geography curriculum that will begin in Key stage 3 and develop towards GCSE and beyond:
Contextual world knowledge of locations, places & geographical features
Understanding of the conditions, processes & interactions that explain geographical features, distribution patterns, & changes over time & space
Competence in geographical enquiry, & the application of skills in observing, describe, collecting, analyzing, evaluating & communicating geographical information
There is a balance between Human and physical geography throughout key stage 3, topics covering a range of places and scales, the theme of sustainability featuring throughout. The program follows the Edexcel iGCSE specification.
The instructional strategies include a mixture of teacher led, group work, independent work, and IT based projects. The department is well resourced and there is a wide range of print, digital and online resources that we use.
Students experience a variety of learning experiences to develop a range of skills both inside and outside the classroom. They will investigate issues and events of the past, develop an understanding of the current issues facing people and the environment at a range of scales and understand how we can learn from this for better future planning.
A synoptic approach is employed, which bridges the gap between the topics covered in their geography lessons as well as those taught through the other Humanities and Sciences. The geographical enquiry process runs through the instructional process, engaging students in using critical thinking skills to better understand geographical questions and concerns.
Impact
We are confident that the curriculum will positively impact our students’ understanding of the world’s complexities and their own prominent place within it. We will measure this in the following main ways:
Valid, and cost-effective assessment, including half-termly formal assessments at KS3, regular exam questions and end of unit exams at GCSE. On-going assessment will occur through teacher monitoring of classwork and discussions with pupils. Outcomes of these will be analysed and discussed within the department and interventions and extra support set up where appropriate. Assessment outcomes will be compared to targets. Specific groups such as SEND, EAL and low RA will be closely monitored.
Pupils voice, student feedback, which identifies how students feel about what they are learning and the progress they are making. We also wish to ascertain how we can best further support students in their learning and adapt/improve our curriculum to meet their needs and inspire their interest.
