Geography

Curriculum Intent

The Humanities Faculty comprises three core subjects, History, Geography and Religious Studies. Vocational Travel and Tourism is also offered at KS4. Collectively these subjects aim to create global citizens who have a secure understanding of the world around them and the relationship between our past, present and future.

Across all Humanities subjects, the curriculum aims to inspire pupil’s curiosity and fascination about the world, its people and its past. Pupils are encouraged to study the complexity of the Earth through the study of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and places, as well as their own identity and the challenges of their time. As pupils progress, they should develop a sophisticated understanding of the relationship between the Earth’s key physical and human processes and explain how this has been shaped and changed over time. The curriculum is rich with SMSC opportunities which allows students to develop a greater level of tolerance, alongside understanding and empathy towards people, cultures and the environment.

The aims of the curriculum are to allow students to:

• Think, write, communicate and read as well as experts in their field.
• Study a range of geographical topics which broaden and deepen their understanding of the world around them and the influences on human’s behaviours.
• Collect, analyse and communicate with a range of Geographical data, including the ability to conduct fieldwork that deepens understanding of key geographical processes.
• Develop a sophisticated understanding of the physical and human characteristics of some if the earths most globally significant places and how these are how these are interdependent.
• To reflect on their position as Citizens of the UK and the wider world in order to develop a sense of identity and belonging which underpins the core British values.
• Understand the key concepts of Geography and use them to make connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends and frame valid questions
• Grow cultural capital through a range of opportunities and experiences both within and outside of the classroom.
• Be prepared for adult life, employment and lifelong learning through the development of transferable skills, self-regulation and independent study.

What your child will learn in KS3 Geography

Click on the topics for more information.

What your child will learn in KS4 Geography

 Exam Specification

 Geography SMSC Statement

SMSC and British Values play an integral part of the Geography Curriculum at Hathershaw College. From the moment students begin their study in Year 7, their lessons are filled with the lives of people, cultures and traditions from real places around the world. Within the Geography classroom all students sit alongside their peers from different religious, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds. Students are regularly encouraged to work collaboratively with their classroom partners through activities such as Think-pair-share. All students know that a mutual respect and tolerance for those around them is essential to the classroom environment.

The curriculum is planned to maximise student interest with subject specialists collaboratively creating medium term plans in order to utilise areas of expertise. This enables students to develop a love and fascination of Geography. For example, in Year 7 students are able to learn about how cities are changing, why our climate is changing climate and how our landscape has been constantly changing due to Ice Ages, plate tectonics and human interference. As students’ progress through their 5 year journey they are faced with further challenging issues such as the human trafficking and the spread of diseases such as Ebola, each of which increases student interest and value of Geography.

Students are able to develop their understanding of other cultures, religions and values throughout their day to day study of Geography. For example the concept of ‘contrast’ runs through the Year 8 curriculum. This allows students to develop an appreciation of the similarities and differences between the UK and contrasting localities such as Africa and Asia. Through the theme of ‘challenging world’ in Year 9 students are asked to critically examine the world around them with a focus on topics such as population and sustainability in order to recognise the interdependencies of populations around the world, as well as recognising and accepting cultural differences. Throughout Geography, topics like this enable students to reflect and share their own experiences and make comparisons between other populations around the world. By studying real people, and real places students are constantly making links and able to develop spiritually.

Alongside this, the study of Geography intends to develop students moral understanding. Much of the Geography curriculum focuses on investigative issues, with students being encouraged to create evidence backed solutions to key geographical issues around the world. Examples of this include the impact of Human settlement on hazards and the ongoing affects of drought in areas of Africa. Furthermore this encourages students to investigate, debate and a take into consideration different viewpoints. For example when considering physical topics such as rivers, flooding and coasts consideration is given to how much these issues that arise are man-made and is because of exploitation. Similarly when studying issues such as the development gap, students are encouraged to consider why there is a huge gap in development of different countries around the world.

Throughout the curriculum there is a strong appreciation of the influences that have shaped the students’ own cultural heritage ranging from links to the development and emergence of settlement in UK and Oldham. Students are also encouraged to make comparisons to British democratic values and rule of law. For example, students make parallels to the UK rule of law when looking at the distribution of government support on issues such as the Syrian migration crisis and the demographic crisis in Russia.