Geography Curriculum Map

Our context

8 out the 10 most deprived wards within the country are in Blackpool and the population is over 95% white. As a school in an opportunity area with many of our students from deprived backgrounds we are aware that some might not have the luxury to venture beyond the Fylde Coast. We want our students to have a greater understanding of people and place and the importance of Geography in their everyday lives. We want them to understand the importance of interactions between the human and physical environments such as the causes and impacts of climate change in order to make them active citizens who are passionate about the world around them. We want our students to appreciate other landscapes and cultures beyond their own and to become responsible Global Citizens. By providing them with a greater understanding of the world we hope to make them not just understand but also care for the world around them.

Our aims for the whole child

• To be an active citizen
• To become a steward of the earth
• To become a critical thinker
• To stand up for what is right
• To problem solve
• To be tolerant of other cultures

The curriculum

Key Stage 3 Geography

KS3 is designed to develop students’ understanding of the world and the important role they play within it. The curriculum is designed to ensure that teaching equips pupils with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes. As pupils progress through the school, their growing knowledge about the world helps them to deepen their understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes, and of the formation and use of landscapes and environments.

Geographical knowledge and skills are progressive and are sequenced to provide the framework that provides explanation of how the Earth’s features at different scales are shaped, interconnected and change over time.

We seek to inspire a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people which will remain with them for the rest of their lives. Students are to develop knowledge and skills that are transferable to other curriculum areas and which can and are used to promote their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

All Schemes of learning aim to develop students ability to “think like Geographers” and have been designed to:
Extend their locational knowledge and deepen their spatial awareness of the world’s countries through the use of maps and GIS.
Develop Place Knowledge and understand geographical similarities, differences and links between places through the study of human and physical geography of regions within Africa and China.
Understand how human and physical processes interact for example the impact of humans on our climate through our “Action Now” topic or how humans have increased the likelihood of disasters in “Man V’s Nature”
Develop Geographical Skills by exposing students to a range of data both collection and presentation. This is generally achieved through the stand alone skills lessons at the end of each topic.

KS4 Geography

Key stage 4 is designed to build upon the Geographic skills students have acquired in Key stage 3 whilst also providing the opportunity for students to understand more about the world, the challenges it faces and their place within it. The topics at Key Stage 4 deepen students’ understanding of geographical processes, illuminate the impact of change and of complex people-environment interactions, highlight the dynamic links and interrelationships between places and environments at different scales, and develop students’ competence in using a wide range of geographical investigative skills and approaches. Geography enables young people to become globally and environmentally informed and thoughtful, enquiring citizens.

Currently KS4 is made up of the following units:

• Resource Management
• Food
• Urban Issues
• Ecosystems
• Economic Geography
• Coasts
• Rivers

KS5 Geography (AQA)

At Key Stage 5 students have the ability to be inspired by their geographical understanding, to engage critically with real world issues and places, and to apply their geographical knowledge, theory and skills to the world around them. Students have the ability to grow as independent thinkers and as informed and engaged citizens, who understand the role and importance of geography as one of the key disciplines relevant to understanding the world’s changing peoples, places and environments.

Changing Places– The study of relationships and connections between people, the economy, society and the environment help to explain why places are constantly changing. In addition, the meanings and representations attached to places help to shape actions and behaviours affecting that place

Global Systems and Governance– Students study the way in which global systems shape relationships between individuals, states and environments.

Water and The carbon Cycle– Students study the physical processes which control the cycling of both water and carbon between land, oceans and the atmosphere.

Coasts– Students develop an understanding how physical processes have created coastal environments and how the development of human activity may cause conflict with this.

Hazards-The study of the causes and impacts of a range of natural hazards and the conflicts that are arising as human expansion increasingly places lives at risk.

Contemporary Urban Environments– focuses on urban growth and change which are seemingly ubiquitous processes and present significant environmental and social challenges for human populations. The section examines these processes and challenges and the issues associated with them, in particular the potential for environmental sustainability and social cohesion

Geography beyond lessons

Year 8 trip to Bowness.
Year 10 fieldwork to Salford MediaCityUK and Cleveleys
Year 12 residential 2 day trip to Liverpool and 2 days NEA data collection

Catholic Ethos

Geography enables students to develop an understanding of the world and the important role they play within it. Understanding the impact human actions can have on the natural world around us allows our students to become equipped with the knowledge to act as true stewards of the earth and protect what has been given to us. Developing an understanding of people and places allows our students to become global citizens, empathetic of the world’s human issues and aware of those less fortunate than ourselves. Geography arms students with the knowledge to go out and help to change the injustices in the world and to defend the natural environment with which we have been gifted.