“Geography is the subject which holds the key to our future.”

KS5 Geography at OASB

The Geography Curriculum will equip students with a balanced understanding of the physical and human world, as well as an appreciation of how interconnected systems are. It will improve student knowledge of key geographical processes and how human actions impact on these processes. Crucially it will give students the knowledge and skills to become active global citizens and enable them to confidently identify and respond to the complex current issues our planet faces. Students will have opportunities to engage and excel geographical skills through fieldtrips so they are able to personally experience the geography taught in lessons.   

We value character, competence and community in our curriculum:  

• Character: the curriculum’s fundamental aim is to instil a love of learning about the world around us for all students. In Oasis we celebrate diversity and the curriculum therefore explores and celebrates a range of global places, cultures and traditions.  This relies on the curriculum drawing on accurate, up to date representations of places and cultures in an ever changing world and how changing socio-economic circumstances impact on quality of life and well-being.  Students will be developed holistically, encouraged to become the best versions of themselves by emphasising their role in order to better understand how their actions impact on others and the wider environment.    

• Competence: the Oasis Geography curriculum is an academic and rigorous curriculum, which places a large emphasis on knowledge. It is designed to ensure the very best outcomes for students using the latest research in cognitive science.  Central to the curriculum are three core strands:  

• Knowledgeable students: We want our students to be curious learners who can apply their knowledge to the real world.  To do this, we equip them with the fundamental knowledge that allows them to ask good questions, access a range of scenarios and express themselves eloquently and with confidence.  

• Knowledgeable teachers: We want to ensure that all teachers are confident in their subject knowledge and feel secure to take ownership of differentiating lessons for the needs of the specific students they teach.  

• Knowledgeable leaders: We want to enable our curriculum leaders to be experts in curriculum delivery – able to develop the pedagogy of their teams through effective CPD, observations and feedback.  We also want to ensure that they are confident in tracking the progress of their students, identifying gaps in knowledge and underachievement.  

• The Oasis Geography curriculum gives students the skills to use this knowledge to think deeply about key Geographical concepts and processes. Central to the curriculum is the application of this knowledge to answer complex questions developing skills of critical thinking, analysis and evaluation.  Furthermore, students will develop geographical skills, gaining confidence in interpreting information from maps, graphs, data and photographs. It will ensure students aspire and take the next steps in their education and personal challenges.  

• Community: the curriculum will help students to understand local, national and global communities. Fundamentally students will be encouraged to study the interconnected nature of our world and look at their role in an ever changing planet. We want Oasis students to be global citizens. The curriculum fosters this through the provision of opportunities for students to take action and become active members of society, championing for sustainable change. We also want our students to have meaningful experiences and see Geography in action through multiple opportunities for human and physical fieldtrips, where they are able to collect and interpret primary data, as well as analyse secondary data.   

Aims/Outcomes:  

Through our carefully sequenced and ambitious curriculum we intend that our varied and diverse geographical education provision will achieve these outcomes:    

• An understanding of global physical and human processes  
• An awareness of local, national and global opportunities and challenges  
• An understanding of places through a varied study of different case studies across the curriculum covering all the world’s continents    
• An understanding of how socio-economic circumstance impact on quality of life and how these change as countries develop, in an ever changing world  
• An awareness of their place in the role and an understanding of how they can implement change for the good  

• Multiple opportunities to undertake fieldwork studies in contrasting locations.   
• Working with representatives across Oasis Global hubs in Mozambique, India and South Africa  

• A lifelong love of Geography and the world they live in   
• A belief that they can implement the change they want to see  
• Resilience to learn and apply knowledge, as well as take feedback and reflect effectively  
• Empathy, sensitivity, understanding and openness to global cultures and traditions  
• Confidence, collaboration and leadership skills  
• An understanding of Geography’s role in shaping individuals, culture and communities.  

For further information on the Geography curriculum at OASB please email megan.rae@oasissouthbank.org