Curriculum
Geography

he intent of our curriculum is implemented through quality first teaching.  Our teachers are passionate about Geography, provoking curiosity and a desire to investigate physical and human environments.  They regularly refer to current news or use engaging stories in order to provoke interest in the core curriculum. They refer to big questions and themes in order to encourage students to think about the big picture and encourage spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Clearly structured and sequenced planning, with a knowledge of the skills and ideas covered at Key Stage 2, includes fieldwork that links to learning in the classroom, enabling students to apply skills and learn how to conduct geographical research and investigations.

We meet the needs of all students, including those with SEND and those who may be disadvantaged by including maps in the back of students’ books to improve students’ sense of place.  We effectively use writing frames and sentence starters to support students to develop academic writing skills and have a strong focus on oracy, in particular through turn and talk and sentence starters –  in order to develop students’ literacy.  We ensure our slides are designed in a way that avoids cognitive overload.

We utilise the St Luke’s learning structure through regular modelling of quality work, in particular high quality, academic writing and analysing academic writing, for example through the use of visualisers.  We regularly reference tier 2 vocabulary and grammatical features, in particular conjunctive adverbials (ensuring students ask themselves ‘so what?’ when explaining).  We chunk task instructions and use dual coding and images to engage students and help them retain information.  We frame communication positively and proactively encouraging students through praise, communication with parents and support to build confidence.

Students at St Luke’s enjoy Geography, reflected in the positive progress that they make.   Students can articulate the reason that they study Geography and the number who achieve 9-4 is above national average. · Students understand important physical and human processes at play in the world around them and a number of students go on to study Geography at A Level. · Students demonstrate an awareness of their actions on the physical environment and other people.  They demonstrate an understanding of issues facing humans, such as climate change, and a desire to raise awareness and help solve these problems. · Students demonstrate respect for people from backgrounds different to themselves and are willing to listen to other people’s points of view. · Students demonstrate an awareness of global poverty and a desire to help eradicate it.