Geography
Subject Statement
Why are places where they are, why do they change, and what can maps and fieldwork reveal that we cannot see at first glance?
At Sikh Heritage Girls School, Geography helps girls make sense of the world around them. They learn where places are, what makes them distinctive, how landscapes are formed, why people live and move where they do, and how places are connected across distance and time.
From the earliest years, pupils use maps, atlases, globes, aerial photographs and first-hand observation to investigate geographical questions. As they grow, the work becomes more demanding. Girls interpret increasingly complex maps and data, undertake purposeful fieldwork, compare places at different scales and use evidence to explain the relationships between people, places and environments.
Our curriculum is designed in-house and rooted in the National Curriculum, while deliberately extending beyond simple coverage. Pupils build secure knowledge of the UK and the wider world alongside a strong understanding of physical geography, human geography and the practical methods geographers use to investigate places.
Geography at SHGS gives girls a secure sense of where they are while steadily widening their understanding of the world and the connections between places.
Intent
Our curriculum develops geographical knowledge, geographical thinking and practical skills together.
Girls build a strong mental map of the world, learning the location and characteristics of important countries, regions, cities, oceans, rivers, mountain ranges and other physical features. This locational knowledge gives them the framework they need to understand the places they encounter later.
Physical geography is studied seriously in its own right. Pupils learn about weather and climate, rivers, coasts, landforms, ecosystems, biomes and tectonic processes, developing an understanding of the mechanisms that shape landscapes and environments.
Human geography includes settlement, population, migration, agriculture, land use, economic activity and the ways in which people organise and change places. As pupils' knowledge grows, they increasingly examine the interaction between human and physical geography: how rivers influence settlement, how climate affects agriculture, how growing populations change land use, and how human activity can alter ecosystems and resources.
Alongside this knowledge, girls become increasingly confident using maps, fieldwork and geographical data to investigate questions for themselves.
Implementation
Maps, place and scale
Map fluency is developed from Year 1 onwards. Younger pupils begin with simple plans, symbols, keys, positional language, aerial photographs and compass directions. Over time they become confident using atlases, globes, digital maps, scale, grid references, Ordnance Survey conventions and thematic maps that represent information such as climate, population or land use.
Maps are not simply used to find places. Girls learn to read them for patterns, relationships and change.
Pupils also become accustomed to moving between scales. Their immediate locality, Britain, Punjab and South Asia, and contrasting regions of the wider world are revisited in different contexts. Place comparison goes well beyond listing similarities and differences. Girls consider why places are different, which physical and human processes have shaped them, how they are connected to other places and how they may be changing.
This careful study of place helps challenge stereotypes. Countries, continents and communities are explored through varied maps, photographs, statistics, case studies and other evidence so that pupils do not reduce complex places to a single image or story.
Fieldwork and geographical evidence
Fieldwork is a regular part of Geography at SHGS and becomes progressively more sophisticated as pupils move through the school.
The youngest girls learn to observe, notice, map and record. Later, pupils use a wider range of techniques to collect information about landscapes, land use, settlements and physical environments. They learn to present what they find, identify patterns, compare locations and consider what conclusions their evidence supports.
Fieldwork may take place within the school grounds, the local area or further afield. What matters is that it involves genuine geographical investigation. A visit becomes fieldwork when pupils are observing carefully, collecting evidence and using what they find to answer a geographical question.
Girls also work with geographical evidence in the classroom, including photographs, graphs, climate records, population data, aerial and satellite imagery, thematic maps and digital mapping. Technology and virtual experiences are used where they add genuine geographical value, particularly when they allow pupils to examine places or information that cannot be accessed directly.
By the upper years, pupils are expected to draw together evidence from different sources, select suitable ways to present findings and undertake increasingly independent geographical enquiry.
Enquiring into a connected world
Each unit is built around a purposeful geographical enquiry question. The sequence of learning is designed so that pupils acquire the knowledge, vocabulary and evidence needed to answer it well.
A unit on the Amazon rainforest, for example, is not simply an introduction to rainforest animals and vegetation. Pupils locate the region accurately, understand its climate and ecosystems and examine settlement, land use, economic activity and environmental change. They consider why the rainforest is changing and the different interests involved in decisions about its future.
Punjab is similarly studied as a real and changing geographical region rather than only as a place of cultural heritage. Girls examine its rivers and plains, settlements, agriculture, population and connections with Britain. As their geographical knowledge develops, they can investigate contemporary questions such as pressure on groundwater supplies and the relationship between farming, water demand and the long-term use of natural resources.
Migration and population provide further opportunities to understand how places are connected. Pupils explore why people move, how settlements develop and change, and how movement creates lasting economic, social and geographical connections between regions, including Britain and Punjab.
Environmental questions are approached through evidence rather than predetermined conclusions. Whether pupils are studying deforestation, water use, urban development, energy or conservation, they consider causes, consequences, different interests and the trade-offs involved in possible responses.
Weather, climate and a changing UK
Weather and climate are revisited with increasing depth. Pupils begin by observing and recording weather and recognising patterns. They later compare climates, interpret climate data and understand how temperature and rainfall influence environments and human activity.
Older girls examine evidence of change within the UK itself. They consider long-term temperature and rainfall patterns alongside the geographical effects of heatwaves, drought, intense rainfall and flooding. They learn to distinguish an individual weather event from longer-term climate trends and to understand that extreme events usually result from several interacting factors.
This work gives pupils the geographical knowledge needed to interpret changes they may experience within their own lifetimes, rather than encountering climate change only as an abstract global issue.
Ambition for every pupil
Every girl has access to demanding Geography. Where additional support is needed, teachers use vocabulary preparation, visual representations, modelling, structured fieldwork and adapted recording to make complex geographical ideas accessible without reducing the substance of what pupils learn.
As girls progress through SHGS, we expect greater independence. By the upper years, pupils should be able to use maps and atlases confidently, interpret geographical data, conduct fieldwork with increasing independence, connect human and physical processes and draw together evidence to support a reasoned geographical conclusion.
Assessment
Assessment considers both what pupils know and what they can do with that knowledge.
Teachers look for secure locational and place knowledge, understanding of physical and human processes, map fluency and increasingly precise geographical vocabulary. Pupils also demonstrate their understanding by interpreting data, comparing places, analysing fieldwork findings and explaining geographical relationships.
As girls mature, greater emphasis is placed on their ability to select relevant evidence, identify patterns and use what they know to answer geographical enquiry questions independently. Assessment then informs what needs to be revisited or strengthened next.
Impact
By the time girls leave SHGS, we want them to possess a secure geographical picture of the world and the confidence to investigate it.
They should know where important places and features are located, understand the physical processes that shape landscapes and recognise how human activity influences settlements, environments and resources. They should be able to move confidently between local and global scales and understand that their own locality, Britain, Punjab and the wider world are connected in many different ways.
They should use maps with confidence, interpret geographical data and undertake purposeful fieldwork. When faced with an unfamiliar place or geographical issue, they should be able to identify patterns, ask worthwhile questions, draw upon relevant knowledge and use evidence to reach an informed conclusion.
We want girls to leave SHGS understanding that Geography rarely offers simple answers. Places are complex, environments change, and decisions about land, water, migration, development and resources affect people differently. A strong geographical education gives pupils the knowledge and tools to examine that complexity carefully.
Research-Informed Practice
Our approach reflects established thinking in geography education about the importance of secure knowledge of places and processes alongside the practical ways in which geographers investigate the world.
Ofsted's geography research and subject reporting emphasise the importance of connected curriculum planning, strong locational and place knowledge, progressive map skills, purposeful fieldwork and geographical enquiry that is genuinely built into a sequence of learning.
The Geographical Association similarly emphasises progression in mapping and fieldwork, with pupils building on earlier techniques rather than simply repeating similar activities in different locations.
Our teaching of UK weather and climate draws on authoritative evidence from the Met Office State of the UK Climate, while contemporary geographical enquiries use reliable data sources appropriate to the places being studied.
Selected References
Ofsted. Research Review Series: Geography.
Ofsted. Getting Our Bearings: Geography Subject Report.
Department for Education. National Curriculum in England: Geography Programmes of Study.
Geographical Association. Professional guidance on geographical enquiry, fieldwork, mapping and spatial thinking.
Met Office. State of the UK Climate.
Central Ground Water Board, Government of India. Groundwater resource assessments for Punjab.