Geography enables students to understand how our planet, its processes and its people work and interact with one another. Students learn about their locality, the UK and the wider world and themes that make our planet unique. Our Geography curriculum is transformative, it helps change how our students see the world so that they notice, appreciate and debate the Geography around them.
With Geography, we can truly experience ‘life in all its fullness’ being able to look and understand the landscapes we live in or the processes which surround us. Our nine core values are developed throughout are curriculum content as well as in our classroom culture and everyday relationships.
For example, we develop ideas around justice and equality when examining issues around development, looking at poverty and inequality and the factors behind this. We explore the concept of vulnerability and look at how some people and places can be far more vulnerable to naturally-occurring hazards as a result of human decisions and attitudes.
Across our place-based studies, we look at ‘togetherness’ when learning about how space shapes identities, fostering and uniting communities as well as offering potential for discord and division.
Underpinning our geography are the following six themes. These ‘big six’ recur throughout the curriculum, helping students to build their synoptic links and understanding how part relates to another.
For example, at the end of year 8 pupils complete an enquiry into the Haitian earthquake of 2010 understanding factors of vulnerability. As part of this, they use their knowledge of tectonic processes and population in year 7 alongside their understanding of development from their earlier year 8 studies into Africa and China. This enables students to continually revisit schemes of work and revisit their prior knowledge within each unit per half-term.
Teaching and knowledge in geography enables students to be ready for the world of work by giving students the knowledge of their space and place within the world, within the UK and within our local communities. We teach critical analytical skills that are relevant in a variety of careers and occupations such as law, finance and politics. As well as this, teaching students map skills and fieldwork enables students to have a contextual grasp on certain mathematic skills which can be transferred into a variety of occupations. The skills students learn about specific case studies such as China, also enable students to gain a wider understanding of our planet, its people and its economies, which will further aid students in the world of work today and in the future.
When we teach geography at Queen Elizabeth’s Academy we consistently remind ourselves of our own place in the world and within society. We do not shy away from showing our community and the inequality that exists within the UK and within our local context. This helps us to teach students how to be successful and ultimately succeed. This raises our students’ aspirations because they have a solid understanding of the core knowledge that exists that allows them to fully understand and apply their thinking in a variety of contexts.
Geography gives students the opportunity to understand more about the world, the challenges it faces and their place within it. The course will deepen 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.
The changing landscapes of the UK – an overview of the distribution and characteristics of the UK’s changing landscapes and detailed studies of two landscapes – coastal landscapes and processes, river landscapes and processes or, glaciated upland landscapes and processes
Weather hazards and climate change – an overview of the global circulation of atmosphere and climate change over time and two detailed studies of tropical cyclones and drought
Ecosystems, biodiversity and management – an overview of the distribution and characteristics of global and UK ecosystems and two detailed studies of deciduous woodlands and tropical rainforests
Ms V Lowe
vlowe@queenelizabeths-ac.org.uk
