Geography

Geography is a sprawling, hybrid discipline that spans both the natural and social sciences.

Powerful knowledge in geography:

• Provides new ways of thinking/transforms how our students see the world
• Helps our students to explain and understand the physical and human processes shaping the world
• Gives them power over what they know
• Means that students can join in conversations and debates
• Gives them knowledge and understanding of places and the features that make them unique, but also those things they have in common
• Develops procedural knowledge that enables students to interrogate geographical claims or claims about geographical issues
• This knowledge of the world contributes strongly to students’ general knowledge

Curriculum

The geography curriculum not only aims to develop extensive substantive knowledge of a wide range of places, environments and features, but also develop the procedural knowledge essential for students to understand and interrogate geographical claims about the world around them.

Our curriculum will enable students to understand how the world was shaped and how it continues to be shaped by human and physical processes. As the curriculum progresses, students will develop their ability to explain the interdependence between these processes and their influences on changes in physical and human environments.

The geography curriculum seeks to find the answers to challenging enquiry questions through developing students’ ability to think geographically. Our students will learn how to identify and explore alternative perspectives on contemporary geographical debates and think critically to challenge assumptions and stereotypes.

It is increasingly important that our students’ experience of geography in The Laurus Trust takes them beyond the limits of their own personal experience and helps them to develop an awareness of their own place in the world, their impacts on it and how its future will be shaped by the next generations.

The document linked below outlines how we have sequenced knowledge and skills in each academic year:

• Geography Years 7-13 Curriculum Overview 2023-2024

Enrichment

To develop students’ geographical knowledge further, the Geography department offers a range of opportunities and experiences outside of the classroom. At Key Stage 3, students take part in local fieldwork including studying the factors influencing micro-climates. This fieldwork promotes geographical knowledge and understanding by bridging the divide between the classroom and the real world. At Key Stage 4, students will visit the coastal town of Reculver in which they will study the processes and management that shape the coastline. They will also have a fantastic opportunity if they continue on to A-Level to take part in a residential visit to Leeson House in Dorset to gather the data for their NEA. This allows students to gain a wide range of experiences and methods for both physical and human geography.

Click here to read our MGS Extra Prospectus and find out what clubs are on offer.

Click here to access the KS3 and KS4 Art Super Curriculum.

Click here to access the KS5 Art Super Curriculum.

Careers

Careers education is entwined with the topics that we cover in Geography in all Key Stages. For each topic in each year suggested careers linked to that knowledge and / or skill is highlighted and discussions are facilitated by staff to discuss the real life application of this understanding and how it links to possible future careers.

From environmental consultancies to planning departments, geography can lead you into a variety of careers.

Geography opens up careers in a range of fields, including those in the education, commerce, industry, transport, tourism and public sectors. You’ll also have many transferable skills, attracting employers from the business, law and finance sectors.

Employers include: the armed forces, charities, the Civil Service, environmental consultancies, environmental protection agencies, information systems organisations, local government, Ministry of Defence, police service, private companies, utility companies.

Career ideas: architecture, business analyst, cartographer, data analyst, environmental consultant, Geographical Information Systems Officer, marketing, education, social researcher, town planner, construction manager, landscape architect, nature conservation, palaeontologist, meteorologist, political risk analyst, sustainability consultant, transport/logistics planner

Click here to find out more about careers in Geography.