Geography

In Geography, we aim to educate for life by helping students to become active and responsible citizens who are inspired by the world around them, learning how Human, Physical and Environmental processes work and interrelate. We want students to develop their understanding of how Geography is all around them and continually changing, how these changes can be both natural and created by humans, and how humans can create both problems and solution to the world’s key issues.

We aim to learn using locational geography, based in a wide range of different parts of the planet and at different scales, so students become familiar with key locations and important examples both locally, within the UK and across the entire world.

Students learn many skills in Geography – such as researching, mapping, image and picture interpretation, data presentation and analysis as well as learning to ‘think like a Geographer’ which involves questioning, analysing, and communicating information they are presented with.

The Geography curriculum identifies the substantive concepts of place, space, environment, interconnection, sustainability, scale and change, as key to the development of geographical understanding and enables students to build their skills and knowledge over time.

In addition, an integral part of Geography is fieldwork. This involves collecting data from the local area or further afield, presenting and then interpreting this data and drawing conclusions from it, and to bring theoretical concepts to life. The concepts of data bias and reliability are considered at all stages.

Synoptic links are made explicit to students, so they do not see the varied topics in isolation but understand that they all interrelate and impact each other. Topical issues are looked at in depth with sensitivity, these include climate change, environmental impacts, migration, energy use, resource conflict and geopolitics.

Our curriculum is wide ranging and challenging and encourages students to think and question why the world is like it is, and how the future can be managed effectively to support both human development and the natural environment.