Geography
Curriculum intent
To have uncompromising aspirations for every individual and for our school to be an exceptional and inspirational community of lifelong learners.
To ensure all students have the knowledge to critically engage with the conversation of humankind.
Purpose
Geography is a subject that will inspire a lifelong interest and curiosity about our world. The Geography Department believes that Geography is an essential ingredient in the development of our students as global citizens. In an age where our world is becoming a single global society, understanding and appreciation of this world is now more important than ever before. We want our students to be prepared for the world within which they will work and to be provided with information that will allow them to make informed decisions as global citizens.
Key concepts that underpin the Geography curriculum
- Physical and Human Processes
- Location
- Spatial Awareness
- Sense of Place
- Geographical Skills
- Environment and Sustainability
- Cultural Awareness and diversity
- Geo literacy and thinking geographically
How does our curriculum shape learners?
Through the dedication of staff and students in the Geography department, students leave with the transferable skills they need to be successful in all aspects of life. They are independent, reflective, team players and have a deep understanding of the world around them.
The number of students choosing to study Geography at higher education is very high, showing the success of their Geography journey at Hayes school.
| Academic end points | |
| Year 7 | By the end of year 7, students will be able to describe the locations of a number of places in the world. They will be able to understand their sense of place, locally, nationally and globally by studying maps skills and the landscape of the UK. With regards to physical Geography, students will be able to identify key issues that our oceans are facing and formulate solutions to these problems. This is the start of our students learning journey to becoming global citizens and understanding global issues. |
| Year 8 | By the end of year 8, students will be able to coherently explain their points and link to key contempary case studies. Students will challenge stereotypes when studying ‘Africa and development’, bringing a further awareness of different cultures and the diversity of our human race. Students will be able to create their own independent study on the local area where they will analyse their data and draw upon their own conclusions. |
| Year 9 | By the end of year 9, students will draw upon their prior knowledge of weather and climate to deep dive into the issues of climate change. They will be able to explain what climate change is and how it will impact people and the environment in the short and long term. Students will have built their foundational knowledge on geopolitics. By the end of year 9, they will have explored and tacked some of the world's largest issues. They will have built upon their prior locational knowledge as well as cross curricular knowledge from other subjects such as RE, to understand how different cultures can impact the relationships between countries. Students will have the key skills and will have mastered the key geographical concepts to allow them to flourish in GCSE Geography. |
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Year 10 |
By the end of year 10, students would have competed their first year of GCSE Geography. They will have built upon their previous year 9 knowledge of hazards and developed their understanding of the global circulation model and changing climate. Students will be able to make clear links between the physical and human geography as they assess the impacts that hurricanes can have on developing and developed countries. Students will have mastered the scale of global inequality while understanding the consequences for people, the environment and the country’s relationship with the wider world. Students will build upon their spatial locational knowledge while studying London as a major city and the socio-economic political process that may influence it. At the end of year 10, students will be continually developing their exams skills to answer 8-mark questions. |
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Year 11 |
By the end of year 11, students would have an in depth understanding of geographical processes and be able to illuminate the impact of change and of complex people-environment interactions. Students will be more confident in their exam technique and will have used the foundational knowledge from year 10 to master key concepts such as the interrelationships between places and environments at different scales. By studying Geography, students will have become a global, environmentally informed and thoughtful citizen. |
| Year 12 | By the end of year 12, students will have acquired the key skills and concepts that would enable them to succeed in year 13. Students will have been inspired by their geographical understanding and learnt to engage critically with real world issues and places. Students would have built upon their knowledge from key stage 4 and developed their independent skills by reading relevant literature and applying it to their work. Students will have built the foundations to grow and develop 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. Students would have started to undertake their fieldwork that encourages them to apply and evaluate theory in the real world. Students would have built upon their skills from GCSE and learnt how to be responsible for selecting their own research question, applying relevant techniques and skills as well as identifying appropriate ways of analysing and communicating findings. |
| Year 13 | By the end of year 13, students will be able to effectively communicate their ideas and draw upon detailed connections between the human and physical environment. Advancing their knowledge from year 12, students will have drawn synoptic links between the different topics they have studied. Students will be a master of both physical and human geography, as well as having the geographical and mathematical skills to broaden their career paths. Students' in-depth awareness of culture and diversity will provide them with the cultural capital to be a responsible and caring global citizen. |
Click here to visualise the Geography learner journey
Key features of learning
Geography teaches important life skills, personal learning, thinking skills, functional skills, as well as developing a critical way of thinking about the world. Employers are looking for quality people to invest in, and geography is a subject which explores the importance of the future. Our students learn these skills through high quality teaching and numerous fieldwork opportunities, whether this be local or international. The curriculum at Hayes school is far more than lists of content, rather specific topics chosen to really broaden the mindset of our students and teach beyond the specification, allowing time for regular retrieval and application of prior knowledge, which enriches and broadens their long-term memory.
Geography lessons allow students to develop the idea of what it is to be a Hayes learner by partaking in group work while collecting data in the field or communicating their opinion to others while respectful listening to others. We expose our students to excellence through attending A Level conference by Geographers in the field as well as working with numerous organisations such as the Geographical Association and the Royal Geographical association.
What will you see in Geography lessons?
- Excellence everywhere
- Think, pair, share
- Extended writing
- Exam practise
- Clips from a broad range of sources
- Students engaged with the lesson
- Independent study
What will you see in Geography books?
- Responsive teaching
- Challenge
- Well-presented work
- All students to follow the same curriculum
- A curriculum that builds on prior knowledge
- Homework that has intent
What formative assessment will you see in Geography?
- There will be a range of summative assessment used. Quizzes (Satchel one)
- Questioning (e.g. cold-calling).
- Essay practice
- End of topic tests.
What is the department currently reading and why?
- Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall
- Flags worth dying for by Tim Marshall
- Homo Deus by Noah Harari
- Factfulness by Hans Rosling
- The Almightly Dollar by Dharshini David
- The Ofsted Curriculum Review
Click on the relevant stage to access the Geography department curriculum map:
