Geography
Curriculum Vision
Our vision is to deliver a Geography curriculum across Key Stages 3 to 5 that develops students into critical, curious, and active global citizens. It is rooted in the belief that young people should have knowledge of the complexity of the world, the diversity of its environments and societies, and the interdependence of people, processes and places. The curriculum is designed to nurture a sense of place, promote responsibility, and build disciplinary thinking through geographical enquiry. We aim to inspire students to see themselves as informed and responsible decision-makers capable of contributing locally and globally to a better world. Students are encouraged to think like geographers through exposure to disciplinary language and reasoning.
Through carefully sequenced substantive knowledge (domains of knowledge) and Geographical concepts (place, space, scale, environment, interdependence, processes, and change), students are taught to interpret geographical patterns, evaluate perspectives, and understand how places function and change. Our intent is to build a coherent foundation that enables all students to progress confidently in their geographical thinking, enquiry and application into the next phase of life.
Curriculum Intent
The Geography curriculum at LPGS is designed to provide a rich and rigorous geographical education that enables all students to build a broad base of substantive and disciplinary knowledge. It supports a clear progression from Key Stage 2 and prepares students for success at GCSE through a coherent and carefully sequenced three-year curriculum.
Our curriculum builds on prior understanding developed during Key Stage 2, including locational knowledge (continents, countries, capital cities, and major physical features), map skills (including OS maps and grid references), understanding of key physical and human processes (such as the water cycle, settlements, and land use), and the ability to compare regions of the UK with contrasting regions of the world. These foundations are consolidated and extended through deeper conceptual and contextual geographical learning at Key Stage 3.
The Geography curriculum aligns with the aims and content of the National Curriculum at each key stage. At Key Stage 3, this includes developing students’ locational knowledge of the world’s countries and major physical and human features; understanding key processes in physical and human geography (such as weather and climate, rivers and coasts, urbanisation, and development); interpreting a range of geographical information sources (including OS maps, GIS, graphs, and field data); and carrying out fieldwork to observe, measure, record, and present the human and physical features using a range of methods.
At Key Stage 4, students study in greater depth themes such as natural hazards, development dynamics, urban change and resource management, and are expected to interpret and evaluate geographical information critically. At Key Stage 5, the curriculum deepens understanding through more complex systems-based enquiry and evaluation, including advanced knowledge of globalisation, superpowers, coastal systems, and human rights. Across all stages, students develop spatial awareness, analytical skills, critical thinking, and informed perspectives on global and local issues.
A video introduction to our Geography course in LPGS6 (our co-educational Sixth Form)
