Geography
What is our curriculum intention and purpose?
Geography is a ‘real world’ subject, applicable to every aspect of life. The study of geography should create more globally conscious and informed citizens.
Geographers should understand how the world works and know their actions can have impacts upon it. Our aim is to give learners the skills to ‘think like a Geographer’; be socially and environmentally aware, think critically about the world in which they live and analyse situations from an environmental, social, political, and economic perspective.
Keeping Geography current is crucial to make it engaging and relevant and fieldwork is an essential part of the geography curriculum, developing transferable skills such as teamwork and adaptability.
In physical geography, students will gain an understanding of the physical processes at work shaping the landscape, how climate operates and influences all aspects of physical and human life at local to global scale.
In human geography, students will develop an understanding of how humans interact with the world and that our actions can have consequences if not managed carefully. We aim to develop an understanding that not all people live in the same circumstances and the reasons for and consequences of this.
The key theme of sustainability threads through the KS3 curriculum and is built on at KS4. The KS3 curriculum is designed to underpin KS4 by developing the relevant knowledge, geographical and extended writing skills needed for success.
What is our learning journey?
How is the curriculum sequenced?
The Geography curriculum is designed to foster scholarship and ambition through a five-year approach, where each topic and year builds on previous knowledge, of place process and skills. From Year 7 to Year 11, students gradually develop essential geographical knowledge and skills, with a focus on continuous progression where each new topic builds on prior knowledge. The topics we teach offer opportunities make connections to the broader world develop understanding of place and the skills to think and write like a geographer while enhancing students numeracy, literacy,
What will my child experience in a typical Geography lesson?
KS3
All lessons start with a Geog your memory do now task this includes 6 questions that encourage students to think back to prior learning designed to help promote recall and improve geographical knowledge
KS4
All lessons start with a learning recall grid which students have in their workbooks students are expected to fill these in there will be 4 questions last lesson this topic this topic and an earlier topic this is designed to promote recall and improve understanding.
All lessons
This is followed by the teacher introducing the content for that lesson with expert explanation of the geographical knowledge concepts processes and skills that the students learning about
Teachers will make reference to prior knowledge relevant and link learning to this to support students understanding
Students will be given opportunities to engage in learning via techniques turn and talk a mini whiteboards to engage in their learning to demonstrate and develop their understanding
Students will then be given time to complete activities individually, in pairs, and in groups, to work independently to further develop and embed the knowledge they have been introduced to during lessons teachers will use strategies such as low stakes testing question answering to check knowledge identify gaps and address misconceptions
How do we assess progress?
Feedback to help students improve is provided regularly in a variety of forms including individualised (verbal or written), whole class and self-assessment. There is an expectation that students upgrade their work in response to staff feedback using green pen where appropriate.
Testing to see students’ current knowledge occur for all units of work. These not only cover what has been taught but are also used as a vehicle to teach writing skills used at key stage 4, making use of command words and BUG the question strategies.
Where assessments are set at KS3 they are mostly in the same format, including questions as follows: multiple choice, describing (usually based on a resource), geographical skills and extended writing. Command words for the extended writing increase in difficulty through KS3 There are some exceptions to this at the start of Y7 where topics are skills based so this style of assessment will not work. In these cases, a series of multiple choice /short answer questions are used
At KS4, assessments are created from past GCSE exam papers to prepare students for the expectations of the exams. The amount of time given is the same as in the terminal exams, with students receiving extra time where appropriate.
How do we extend and enrich our curriculum?
In geography students can expect to receive homework projects related to the topics that they're studying in these students are given a choice of tasks to complete they must complete a minimum of two but may complete as many as they wish this work is designed to extend and develop students understanding that is gained in lessons
In addition to this we are developing field work opportunities at key stage 3 often in class or in lesson where we can take the students into the environment in and around school and use this to help develop their understanding of the places process is and skills that they need to develop as a geographer
Finally at key stage 4 there are dedicated field trips linked to the GCSE course that all students will be given the opportunity to complete
What higher education and career opportunities can this subject lead to?
Students at Bradfield School who choose to continue studying Geography post-16 follow the A-Level pathway, with options available at institutions such as Tapton 6th form College, Sheffield College,. A qualification in Geography opens the door to a wide variety of career opportunities, including roles as a Cartographer, Landscape Architect, Travel Writer, Armed Forces professional, Data Analyst, Environmental Scientist, Environmental Consultant, GIS Specialist, Town Planner, and Teacher.
How can I support my child in Geography?
On the school SharePoint there are a range of resources to support your child, including more information about program of study. Knowledge organisers for the topics your child will be studying.
You will also find access and links to a range of websites including Digimap a powerful piece of mapping software with access to all the UK’s ordnance survey maps, as well as other sites such as Internet geography, Ordnance Survey maps zone, BBC bite sized and several more.
Key Stage 3
| Year 7 | Year 8 | Year 9 |
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Key Stage 4
Students work towards the AQA GCSE in Geography. Fieldwork is covered in Y10, covering aspects of the Urban Issues and Challenges and Physical Landscapes in the UK units of work.
| Year 10 | Year 11 (from 2025) | Current Y11 |
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