Geography
Curriculum lead: Andrew Kelleher
Intent
At Bridge Learning Campus, our Geography curriculum is designed to foster a deep understanding of the interconnectedness of the world, encouraging students to develop critical thinking skills, geographical knowledge, and an appreciation of diverse cultures. Our intent is to ensure that all pupils:
- Develop a strong knowledge base: Students will acquire a rich understanding of physical and human geography, including key concepts such as sustainability, interdependence, and globalisation. This knowledge will be scaffolded progressively throughout their secondary education.
- Cultivate critical thinking: We aim to challenge students to analyse complex geographical issues, evaluate different viewpoints, and form substantiated arguments. By engaging with real-world case studies, students will learn to critically assess geographical data and trends.
- Promote geographical skills: Students will not only learn geographical facts but will also develop their ability to use a range of tools and techniques, from GIS technologies to fieldwork methodologies, enhancing their capacity to conduct independent investigations.
- Foster a sense of responsibility: Our curriculum incorporates themes of social justice, environmental stewardship, and global citizenship, encouraging students to reflect on their role within the local and global community and inspiring them to become informed and responsible advocates for change.
Implementation
To achieve our curriculum intent, we employ a variety of pedagogical strategies and resources, ensuring that our geography teaching is both effective and engaging. We incorporate direct instruction as a core approach, using clear, explicit teaching of key geographical concepts and processes, alongside the modelling of geographical thinking and skills, to support student understanding and long-term retention.
This is complemented by guided practice, strategic questioning, and regular checks for understanding to promote mastery. Through the use of maps, data, case studies, and fieldwork, students are equipped to interpret and analyse real-world phenomena with confidence and accuracy.
Every lesson is thoughtfully designed to build upon prior knowledge while introducing meaningful new content. This ensures students can make connections between physical and human geography, scale and place, and global and local contexts—developing both substantive knowledge (what we know about the world) and disciplinary knowledge (how we know it as geographers).
Our approach is firmly underpinned by Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction, ensuring lessons are structured, purposeful, and adaptive to students’ needs.
Curriculum design
- Aspirational: Our curriculum is specifically tailored to meet the needs of all learners, incorporating the National Curriculum alongside local and global contexts. Each unit of study is designed with clear, measurable learning outcomes that align with the knowledge and skills progression.
- Fieldwork and Experiential Learning: Recognising the importance of real-world experiences, we incorporate field trips and practical investigations as integral parts of our curriculum. These opportunities allow students to observe geographical concepts in action, develop fieldwork skills, and foster a deeper connection to their local environment.
- Complexity over time –The level of challenge increases over time to create mastery leaners. Readying them geographical issues beyond the classroom.
- Representation – Our curriculum has embedded alternative world views and cultural exploration throughout with a considered approach, showcasing different countries of the world, introducing their culture and heritage.
- Following the GCSE AQA Geography course at Bridge Learning Campus provides learners with a structured and enriching pathway to meet the aims of our Geography curriculum. The AQA specification supports the development of a strong knowledge base through its comprehensive coverage of physical and human geography, including key themes such as climate change, resource management, and urbanisation. It fosters critical thinking by challenging students to explore complex global issues through contemporary case studies and data analysis. The course also equips students with essential geographical skills, including map work, data interpretation, and fieldwork techniques. Importantly, the AQA Geography curriculum encourages learners to consider their place in the world and the impact of their actions, aligning closely with our intent to cultivate global citizens who are informed, analytical, and socially responsible.
Teaching strategies
Direct instruction ensures that key geographical concepts—such as sustainability, globalisation, and interdependence—are explicitly taught and clearly modelled, enabling all students to build a secure and coherent knowledge base.
Guided reading of geographical texts and case studies, along with teaching through narrative, helps to deepen understanding by developing students’ analytical and evaluative skills, while making complex geographical processes more relatable and memorable.
Adaptive teaching strategies We also employ adaptive teaching strategies to meet the diverse needs of our learners—scaffolding tasks, pre-teaching essential vocabulary, and chunking information into manageable steps. These strategies allow us to tailor lessons, vary tasks, and adjust support, ensuring all students can access and engage with the curriculum.
Assessment:
- Gateway assessments are a key part of our curriculum strategy, designed to evaluate students’ current knowledge and understanding at pivotal points in their learning journey. These low-stakes, diagnostic assessments allow us to accurately identify strengths and areas for development, ensuring that teaching is responsive and targeted.
- Regular formative assessments are conducted to track student understanding and provide constructive feedback. This takes the form of a skills test and a content test. This information informs our teaching and allows for timely interventions.
- Summative assessments are strategically implemented at the end of key units to evaluate knowledge retention and skills application, ensuring readiness for end-of-year examinations.
Impact
The impact of our Geography curriculum is evidenced through a range of qualitative and quantitative measures:
Student Outcomes
- Build – In Geography at Bridge Learning Campus, our curriculum is carefully designed to build students’ empathy and understanding of diverse cultures, beliefs, and lived experiences across different places and environments.
- Respect – is cultivated as students study communities around the world, including those affected by inequality, environmental injustice, and global conflict. This encourages them to challenge stereotypes, appreciate cultural complexity, and recognise the importance of diverse perspectives—fostering a more inclusive worldview.
- Inspire – by showcasing real-world examples of resilience, innovation, and sustainability. Whether it’s communities adapting to climate change or global efforts to manage resources, students encounter powerful narratives that can motivate them to think and act as positive agents of change.
- Dare – We encourage students to dare—to ask big questions about the world, confront uncomfortable global realities such as the climate crisis or colonial legacies, and develop the confidence to critique dominant narratives.
- Graft –is central to success in Geography. Students must apply themselves through extended writing, fieldwork analysis, and critical data interpretation. They learn that deep understanding comes through consistent effort and intellectual curiosity.
- Empower – by embedding an inclusive, globalised view of the world that represents a broad range of voices, regions, and experiences. By highlighting underrepresented perspectives and exploring themes such as migration, development, and global justice, our Geography curriculum equips students with the knowledge and confidence to navigate—and shape—the world around them.
In summary, the Geography curriculum at Bridge Learning Campus is designed with a clear intent, implemented with strategic approaches, and assessed for meaningful impact, ensuring that our students not only achieve improving academic results but also develop into informed, thoughtful, and responsible global citizens.