Geography
Curriculum Overview -
Subject sentence – What is the quest of Geography?
We aim to inspire students to have a fascination and curiosity about the world around them with the hope that students use the skills and knowledge they develop to improve the world for generations that follow them.
How does your subject address social disadvantage by equipping students with powerful knowledge?
The discipline of Geography includes the fundamental principles of how the world works both in a physical sense and for the human society it sustains. This knowledge is essential to being an educated citizen and allows students to live, work and succeed all over the world and in any field, they choose to enter. The knowledge we teach is transformative in enriching students understanding to provide a framework for future knowledge which in turns deepens students understanding.
What skills and cultural capital do students acquire in your subject?
Geography naturally lends itself to promoting cultural capital as the curriculum exposes students to knowledge about a wide range of places and cultures, resolves misconceptions and promotes enquiry and decision making about real world issues – allowing students to gain their own ‘sense of place’ in the world . As outlined in the subject sentence we aim to inspire students to have a fascination and curiosity about the world around them. Students acquire the key skills of Geography; statistical, cartographical, graphical, formulate enquiry and argument, using qualitative & quantitative data and develop their literacy skills.
How do you make Careers education explicit in your curriculum?
Careers as are highlighted in SOL and promoted to students in a range of ways. For example students using data from the Met Office to write and present the weather forecast. Within the curriculum we have embedded decision making exercises across all year groups that provide students opportunities to learn about a range of careers such as NGOs, the environment agency , conservation management , emergency disaster response teams and other stakeholders. Careers have also been highlighted on the BUH CEIAG document here BUH CEIAG programme Geography.docx There is a display highlighting careers and also a sway page on the school website with links of careers and the relevance of the subject now and in the future Going places with Geography @ KS4 (office.com)
How does your curriculum support Civic Responsibility for the local community?
Geography gives students an understanding of place and of the processes that shape the lives of people in Bradford and beyond. The curriculum exposes students to issues within the local community for example the development and sustainable future of Bradford as well as national and international issues. The curriculum provides opportunities for students to recognise their responsibility as global citizens and connect events that occur in places beyond their own locality to their own lives. The additional experiences that the curriculum offers outside of the classroom provide students with opportunities to be a responsible citizen, following the countryside code, taking litter home with them and conducting themselves in an appropriate manner.
How does your curriculum approach issues surrounding race?
Students are taught the historical context of a range of nations and cultures and the curriculum is designed to address any misconceptions that students may have. For example students in Year 7 learn about the impact that colonisation has had on the development of countries- this process is then returned to throughout the curriculum journey for example in Year 9 when students explore ‘ Africa as a diverse and evolving Continent’ looking at the dangers of a single story and racial stereotypes. When looking at the UK issues are discussed when looking at minority ethnic groups, development differences and inequality and strategies that have been in place to break socio economic divides and racism.
What additional experiences (including expeditions) do your students access in your subject?
Geography students have access to a wide range of enrichment opportunities and experiences. We go to Bolton Abbey in Year 7, which has cross curricular links with history and RE. In Year 8 students can visit Malham to appreciate fluvial processes and sustainable management of rural areas. Students also visit the Holderness Coast including Flamborough Head and Hornsea to develop powerful knowledge about UK landscapes and fieldwork. We have links with the Field Studies Council at Clapham Beck again looking at UK landscapes including an optional visit to Ingleborough Caves. We also have links with the University of Leeds and the student outreach ambassador programme. Where possible we try to have visitors and speakers into school which in the past has included Water Aid.
How do you support personal development?
The curriculum covers a wide range of issues linking to PSHCE , RSE and promotes British Values as well as educating students about protected characteristics. This information has all been captured here Beckfoot Upper Heaton (gridmaker.net)For example in ‘Can the development gap be closed?’ students study the issue of gender inequality and the development gap and then focus on strategies to reduce gender inequality through the role of Non – Governmental Organisations.
Rationale
How is your curriculum designed?
Students learn key geographical concepts about the changing human and physical world and how the two interact. We aim to equip our students with powerful knowledge that will enable students to think about the world from an informed position and provide solutions to some of the challenges the world faces. The learning journey is designed so that students are introduced to key geographical concepts before returning to these frequently and at greater depth, applying them to both familiar and unfamiliar contexts. Contextual geography is taught on a local, national, and global scale which enables students to make links between their place in Bradford and the rest of the world. Knowing ‘where’s where’ is vital to help students build their own identity and sense of place. We encourage our students to ask questions and to ‘think like Geographers’.
What content do you cover and how is this delivered over time?
We follow the national curriculum. At KS3 schemes of learning are framed as enquiry questions. Human and Physical geography are interleaved, and geographical skills are interweaved and embedded throughout including decision making exercise and fieldwork.
Year 7
Students begin their journey with ‘How do Geographers investigate where we live?’ Students will build on their geographical enquiry and skills from KS2 through investigating where they live. Including the types of Geography and why it is important to ask questions as a Geographer. This enquiry question is also designed to support students with their own ‘sense of place’ and scale. Students are then introduced to key concepts in Geography. ‘Can the development gap be closed’ tackles the concept of development and students will gain powerful knowledge about how we come to see the world and the complexities of development as a constantly changing concept. ‘How are the economies in different countries connected?’ links back to development and introduces students to the specific concepts of what makes up and economy, trade and globalisation . Students then look at key physical processes in ‘Why does the UK experience mixed weather’ where students are introduced to the principal elements of weather and climate with a UK focus. Here students will also learn about the enquiry process and carry out fieldwork in the school grounds. In the final unit students will explore ‘Is there a climate crisis?’. Students investigate climate change, causes, effects, and responses and be introduced to the concept of sustainability.
Year 8
In’ How is urbanisation transforming cities?’ students are introduced to the process of urbanisation, investigating the challenges of urban growth in LICs and NEEs building on the concepts of development and economy from Year 7. Students also return and build on the concept of sustainability in ‘UK Urban futures can cities become sustainable?’. Exploring the impact of urban change on the environment. Students are then introduced to fluvial processes and landforms in ‘ How do rivers shape the land in Yorkshire’ , which takes a local case study approach looking at the River Aire.‘ Can a rivers rage be controlled’ develops students understanding for the need of management and the link between human and physical geography and provides students with the opportunity for further fieldwork in school grounds. ‘Why is Haiti so vulnerable to natural hazards’ sees students being introduced to natural hazards and exploring Haiti as a multiple hazard location, interleaving with concepts of development and economy from previous enquiry questions. Students then return to physical processes and landforms in ‘ How does the use of glaciated landscapes cause conflict’ interleaving their knowledge on physical processes and sustainable management looking at how processes have created distinctive landforms in the Lake District and how human activity can create conflict in the area.
Year 9
Students continue to build on concepts from Year 7 and 8 through a range of contexts. This ensures curriculum breadth and supports securing knowledge into long term memory. ‘How does the physical geography of the Middle East create opportunities and challenges?’ interleaves several previously taught concepts including weather and climate and economic development as well as a range of skills. This is then followed by ‘Why is economic development within the Middle East uneven?’ where students build on the contrasting nature of development. ‘What makes Africa a divers and evolving continent?’ provides students with the opportunity to address and challenge misconceptions about the continent, explore the diversity of the continent and its links with the wider world . Students return to and build upon concepts such as urbanisation, international development and globalisation. Students continue to apply concepts to new contexts in ‘How have physical features affected life in Russia’ building on weather and climate, ecosystems, natural resources and climate change. Finally students finish the year by returning back to the UK for a focus on physical processes and landforms where students will consider how coastal areas are used by people interleaving the concept of sustainable management.
Year 10
Students study ‘The challenge of natural hazards including tectonic hazards, atmospheric hazards, and UK weather hazards. Students then study ‘Changing Economic World – but only the first part of the unit about measuring development. The key concepts in the first part of the unit are crucial for students to understand development which links in with the next unit ‘Urban Issues and Challenges’ which examine Rio de Janeiro in Brazil a NEE and London a city in the UK, a HIC as well as sustainable urban living. This is followed by Living World – including deforestation of the Amazon and development opportunities in hot environments – the Thar Desert.
Year 11
Students study UK physical landscape (interleaving physical processes rivers/ coasts from Year 8 and 9) Students undertake their physical fieldwork at the start of the year along the Holderness Coast in Hornsea. Students then continue fluvial processes. Resource management is then studied with the optional unit of food before students return to the second part of Changing Economic World focussing on Nigeria and the UK. Students will also complete the Pre- Release which is release by the exam board 12 weeks prior to the exam.
Class of 2024- slightly different to above
Year 10
Students study ‘The challenge of natural hazards including tectonic hazards, atmospheric hazards, and UK weather hazards. Students then study ‘Changing Economic World – but only the first part of the unit about measuring development. The key concepts in the first part of the unit are crucial for students to understand development which links in with the next unit ‘Urban Issues and Challenges’ which examine Rio de Janeiro in Brazil a NEE and London a city in the UK, a HIC as well as sustainable urban living. This is followed by coastal processes and coastal management.
Year 11
Students undertake their unfamiliar fieldwork at the start of the year along the Holderness Coast in Hornsea. Students then continue fluvial processes. Resource management is then studied with the optional unit of food. This is followed by Living World – including deforestation of the Amazon and development opportunities in hot environments – the Thar Desert. Students then return to the second part of Changing Economic World focussing on Nigeria and the UK. Students will also complete the Pre- Release which is release by the exam board 12 weeks prior to the exam.
Which content don’t you cover (that others might)? Why?
Inevitably given the nature of Geography there is a lot we could cover but perhaps don’t however we have selected the content to ensure full coverage of the KS3 national curriculum requirements.
How many lessons do students have per week, for each year group?
KS3 – 2 x 55 minute lessons a week
KS4 - 3 x 55 minute lessons a week
Which exam board to you use? Why?
The AQA specification has been chosen as it allows students to display their knowledge of the key concepts previously mentioned whilst developing them further so that they have the skills and experience to progress onto A level and beyond. The course has a balanced framework of physical and human themes and investigates the links between them.
Concepts
How is your subject curriculum designed and delivered in a way that allows pupils to transfer key knowledge to long-term memory?
The curriculum is sequenced with interweaving threads (key concepts such as economics, development, sustainability, landforms and processes and key skills such as decision making, fieldwork , cartographical and graphical skills ) . In year 7 students are introduced to key concepts and as students’ progress through their curriculum journey these concepts and skills will be reinforced and built upon at the same time as further concepts and skills being introduced and interweaved . This enables students to link geographical concepts and connect key ideas to develop more complex schema over time.
How do you intelligently sequence your curriculum so that new knowledge and skills build on what has been taught before?
The curriculum is sequenced to allow students to link Geographical concepts through synoptic thinking with multiple opportunities for retrieval practice. For example, in Year 7 students learn about the concept of ‘development’ students return to this in Year 8 when looking at opportunities and challenges of urban growth in NEEs and HICs, this is returned to and built upon again in Year 9 when investigating why development within the Middle East is uneven. In years 10 and 11 students return to and build on this further when looking at how deforestation of the Amazon supports economic development of Brazil and how manufacturing is stimulating the economic development of Nigeria.
What end points is the curriculum building towards?
By the end of their curriculum journey a geography student at BUH will
- Know a wide range of geographical concepts about our human and physical world and how these change over time in significant places at local, national, and international scales.
- Understand their place in the wider world through thinking, writing, and speaking like a Geographer
- Be able to better explain and understand the natural and social worlds, be equipped with the knowledge and understanding required to engage in current debates of significance and go beyond the limits of their personal experience.
- How do you use spaced practice / retrieval practice?
Do Now activities focus on learning from previous topics to ensure secure retention of knowledge. Low stakes multiple choice quizzes are also designed to retrieve knowledge from previous topics. The design of the KS3 SOL as
enquiry questions enable revisiting and retrieval practice over a longer period. Decision making exercises that are embedded in the curriculum journey provide students with opportunities to retrieve and practice key skills as well as knowledge. Assessments also allow for cumulative practice of key material.
How does your subject use homework to support learning?
Homework focusses on retrieval practice using knowledge organisers. At KS3 students use the look, cover, write check framework to learn key terms, have a quiz on key content and use the ‘ recreate’ technique to reproduce diagrams of processes and concepts. Students are also directed to books to read linked to the topic. At KS4 students continue to use these strategies as well as revision booklets for each unit that have additional tasks such as mind maps, exam questions and other tasks to support knowledge retrieval.
How is reading and mathematical fluency prioritised in your subject?
We promote a love for reading in the subject by linking non-fiction and fiction books to our SOLs at KS3. For example ‘The boy who harnessed the wind’ linked to the development unit and ‘ Africa is not a country’ in our Year 9 unit. Extracts from other books such as ‘The Power of Geography’ and ‘There is no Planet B’ are used in guided reading opportunities within SOL. Students are encouraged to find the reading list for Geography and associated books in the school library. Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary have been identified in all SOL and are defined on knowledge organisers and a range of strategies used in lessons and homework to engage with these. A wide range of statistical and graphical techniques are interleaved into the curriculum journey as these key geographical skills.
Implementation
Subject leadership – What are the roles and responsibilities for staff in your department?
Head of Faculty (who is Geography subject specialist)
Geography Teacher
Subject knowledge – What are the staff specialisms? What has been the impact of staff training?
The faculty leader works closely with the other geography specialist alongside non-specialists- through discussing SOL and lessons prior to them being delivered and further staff training during planning times.
Equitable delivery – How do you support disadvantaged students and students with SEND?
Every teacher creates context sheets for each class using a range of information provided to ensure that lessons are planned specifically for the students in front of them-highlighting disadvantaged students, SEND students and strategies that will support their progress in lessons. After data collection points analysis of data at department level will also focus on the disadvantaged and SEND students followed by targeted intervention- that may be in class strategies or additional period 6 sessions.
Planning the progression model – How does a certain topic (e.g. algebra / language analysis) progress across the key stage(s)?
Please see previous answers above on sequence of curriculum. Key concepts and skills are revisited and developed throughout the 5-year curriculum.
Breadth and depth – How do your LTPs / SoW demonstrate extent of knowledge and skills coverage and depth?
Geography lends itself to breadth. Students are exposed to a wide range of case studies and examples from the UK and all over the world. Students develop depth through the design of the curriculum as key concepts/ skills are returned to and built upon as the curriculum progresses.
Assessment – How do teachers assess across the unit / term / cycle / year / key stage?
Students in each year group complete an assessment each cycle. Year 10 and 11 also have mocks. These assessments will be cumulative in nature. DIRT opportunities are then provided. Key pieces of work are also identified in the LTPS where feedback will be given to address any misconceptions and gaps. T A range of formative assessment strategies are implemented in lessons to monitor student learning and address any gaps in knowledge – use of lows stakes quizzing, cold calling, and agile responsive teaching.
Powerful knowledge
It is the substantive content, agreed by the subject specialist as being the best knowledge in the discipline that opens opportunities for the student. It will not be picked up by students from their everyday life.
Cultural Capital
It is the essential knowledge that pupils need to be educated citizens, introducing them to the best that has been thought and said and helping to engender an appreciation of human creativity and achievement.