‘The world as we know it is not ‘given’ and it can and it will change’
– Lambert et al
Powerful knowledge in 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 Features
The aim of the Laurus Trust geography curriculum is to inspire all students, regardless of background or circumstance, to become confident, self-assured and globally-informed citizens who are able to engage in lifelong conversations about the world.
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.
Co-curricular 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 infiltration around the school site in Year 7 and investigating the regeneration of Salford Quays in Year 8. 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 Cleveleys in which they will study the processes and management that shape the coastline. They will also have a fantastic opportunity to travel overseas to Iceland, where they will witness the spectacular scenery, including geysers, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and potentially the Northern Lights.
At KS5, students will complete four days of human and physical fieldwork in Blencathra in the Lake District where they will measure carbon storage in trees, investigate different perceptions of place and develop their knowledge and understanding of GIS in geography.