Key Stage 4 Geography Curriculum Intent

There has never been a better or more important time to study Geography. With growing interest in issues such as climate change, migration, environmental degradation and social cohesion, Geography is one of the most relevant courses you could choose to study. Geographers are also highly employable.

A high-quality geography education should inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. Our curriculum equips pupils with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the earth’s key physical and human processes. As pupils progress, their growing knowledge about the world should help them to deepen their understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes, and of the formation and use of landscapes and environments. Geographical knowledge, understanding and skills provide the frameworks and approaches that explain how the earth’s features at different scales are shaped, interconnected and change over time.

The curriculum in Key Stage 4 enables our young people to become globally and environmentally informed and thoughtful, enquiring citizens. Students are provided with the opportunity to understand more about the world, the challenges it faces and their place within it. Their understanding of geographical processes is deepened, they understand the impact of change and of complex people-environment interactions and they will be able to highlight the dynamic links and interrelationships between places and environments at different scales.

There is an emphasis on the development of students’ competence in using a wide range of geographical investigative skills and approaches. Pupils are able to build on their Key Stage 3 knowledge and skills to:

• apply geographical knowledge, understanding, skills and approaches appropriately and creatively to real world contexts, including fieldwork, and to contemporary situations and issues;

• develop well-evidenced arguments drawing on their geographical knowledge and understanding;

• broadening and deepening understanding of locational contexts, including greater awareness of the importance of scale and the concept of global;

• extend their locational knowledge and to develop competence in maps, fieldwork and Geographical skills. 

Key Stage 4 - Geography Overview