Curriculum Intent for Geography at ECC 

ECC students join the college from a large number of feeder primary schools and frequently join from outside the area. As such they can have a variety of prior experiences of Geography. The Geography department seeks to reinforce and then build upon that prior Geographical knowledge and understanding in order to further develop students’ appreciation and understanding of the unique social, economic and environmental context of Exmouth, as well as of the wider world. The Geography department will offer an experience of Geography which is appropriate over a variety of scales, but also will be relevant to the ever-changing events that take place in the world around us.

By the end of their Geography course all students should have learned to “think like a Geographer” in order to continue to learn about, understand and make good decisions in the future.

Learning Geography at ECC will change the way that students look at the world. It will help them to: 

• Gain important factual knowledge 
• Help students to learn how to access more and more complex information about the world, including different people’s points of view 
• Help students to understand the processes that shape the world’s physical and human landscapes 
• Help students to learn how to evaluate the changing relationships between people and their environments 
• Go beyond the basic curriculum by considering sustainable solutions to Geographical problems in order to consider the best ways to make students’ world the best place it can possibly be 

In doing so, learning Geography at ECC will: 

• Prepare students for their learning in the future (both in school and in later life) 
• Help students to develop a range of skills useful in all of their studies and future employment 
• Encourage students and equip them with the ability to always take an active interest in the world around them 

Every section of the course will give students the opportunity to: 

• Develop new locational knowledge of different places in the world at a range of scales 
• Develop new knowledge and understanding of the relationship between humans and the environment 
• Develop the “powerful knowledge” and skills needed to think and understand the world like a “meaningful Geographer” 

A rationale for the sequencing within and between years 

• Every year will provide an opportunity to learn about both physical and human aspects of Geography 
• Throughout there will be opportunities to develop propositional (core) knowledge of locations and understanding of the interactions between people and their environment 
• In each theme there will be opportunities to build upon prior knowledge and to prepare for future learning 
• Each theme starts with a “synoptic question” or a series of synoptic questions as means to create a sense of purpose, to stimulate discussion and to offer an opportunity to formatively assess prior knowledge or any misconceptions at the start of a course. Checklists will provide students and parents with an understanding of the content to follow and these can be reviewed at the end of a theme. 
• In each theme there will be progressively more challenging opportunities to develop the procedural knowledge required to access complex information including accessing text, images, maps, number and graphic information, GIS (Geographical Information Systems) and through fieldwork.
• In each year there will be the opportunity for students to develop their own independent research and enquiry skills 

All Geography at ECC will encourage student to employ their “powerful knowledge” (information and skills) to develop a sustainable solutions-based focus to a range of Geographical issues.