At TCS geographical skills and concepts are taught through issue-based enquiry approach, whereby ICT is used to as a tool to enhance the quality of teaching and learning, whilst a variety of teaching and learning strategies are deployed that are student centred designed to challenge and engage students.

The study of geography will stimulate an interest and a sense of wonder about the natural and human worlds, encouraging questioning, investigation and critical thinking. It enables young people to make sense of a complex and dynamically changing world, whilst developing knowledge of places and environments, an understanding of maps, and a range of investigative and problem-solving skills both inside and outside the classroom. Through new technologies, including geographical information systems (GIS) young people are able to obtain, present and analyse information. Geography explains where places are, how landscapes are formed, how people and their environments interact, and how a diverse range of economies, societies and environments are interconnected, enabling students own experiences to investigate places at all scales.

By exploring their own place in the world, their values and their responsibilities to other people, to the environment and the sustainability of the planet, geography enables pupils to become global citizens.

Adapted from: The School Curriculum and the National Curriculum: values, aims and purposes, 1999, DfES/QCA

and the Ks3 Programme of study 2008

Through the curriculum design at Ks3, we hope that many students opt to continue with their study of geography. For that reason, the concepts that underpin our Ks3 curriculum are taken from both the AQA GCSE and Edexcel A-level specification – facilitating the delivery of a 7-year learning journey for students. Furthermore, there is a greater emphasis on depth of study, as opposed to breadth resulting in four more thematic units being studied in each year group.

Through their study of geography, we aim to:

• Promote opportunities to ‘think like a geographer’ by developing the ways in which students think about the world.
• Enhance and develop student’s subject knowledge so they are able to understand and confidently discuss contemporary challenges which the planet is facing, living as knowledgeable and responsible citizens.
• Develop the ability to think critically, reflect, debate, discuss and analyse key issues.
• Expose students to geographical enquiry, allowing them to deepen their conceptual understanding through reasoning, interpreting data, arguing their point and undertaking fieldwork.
• Expand literacy, enabling students to deploy geographical key terms with confidence.
• Explore their own place in the world, their values, rights and responsibilities to others and the environment.