Curriculum
Geography

Intent
The intent of the Geography curriculum at St Luke’s C of E School is to enable students to understand the physical and human processes at play around them in order to make informed decisions that will improve the future. Our curriculum is underpinned by the research that has informed our whole-school curriculum design, but in addition our teaching is influenced by the work of Barak Rosenshine and Doug Lemov. Our curriculum enables our students to life to the full by:
- Understanding and showing respect to others through learning about the way that people live in different countries;
- Showing respect to their environment, surroundings, and community;
- Taking responsibility to make decisions that will lead to a more sustainable future;
- Being respectful to the differing opinions of other people in the classroom and around the world;
- Being inclusive by understanding and respecting both sides of every issue both local and worldwide;
- Giving hope to the people and communities around the world that are struggling by understanding the role of charities;
- Using their geography skills to achieve their best in whatever they choose to do.
Implementation
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.
Impact
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.
St Luke’s is a wonderful place; is a school full of staff who are dedicated to improving the life chances of every student that attends the school.
Kealey Sherwood, Headteacher

At St Luke's, we are a Steplab Coaching Hub and use Steplab to power our professional development. To find out more about our approach to instructional coaching, check out this guide. To book a coaching hub visit to our school, email hello@steplab.co