Geography

SPIRITUAL, MORAL, SOCIAL AND CULTURE IN GEOGRAPHY

The Geography Department are proud to offer a range of Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural experiences through Geography lessons and enrichment activities. 

Students express their creativity and understanding of what it means to be a ‘good global citizen’ as well as an understanding of other lifestyles, morals and cultures through their study of a variety of different topics at KS3 and KS4.

Competitions and clubs are offered to allow students to develop and showcase their skills, knowledge and experiences through SMSC in Geography, many of which take place in our very own ‘Humanities Week’ where Geography, History and RE work together to create exciting and valuable experiences for the students to explore exciting topics in our subjects as well as the SMSC aspects within our subjects.

Spiritual Development

• Plate Tectonics (Year 7): formation of the world and solar system
• Mountains (Year 8) : importance of mountains for specific cultures
• Disease (Year 9) : an understanding of the way disease is viewed and treated in different parts of the world 

Moral Development

• Hot and cold environments and rainforests (Year 8): an understanding of our moral responsibility towards protecting environments and the people who rely on them

• Crime (Year 7): an understanding of ‘what makes a criminal a criminal’ and why people might commit crime

• Mountains (Year 7) and Climate Change (Year 9): an understanding of how humans degrade mountain landscape and influence climate. An exploration of to what extent this is the ‘fault’ of the developed world and to what extent they should be responsible for helping LICs mitigate the circumstances

• Energy (Year 9) : an understanding of how a demand for energy can degrade environments, the impacts of this on people (locally, nationally and globally) and a questioning of the moral responsibility TNCs and the developed world should take for this

• Globalisation (Year 8) and Development (Year 9) : an understanding of how world trade operates and how it serves to create inequality and poverty. How aid systems operate in the world

Social Development

• Globalisation (Year 8) and Development (Year 9):  social values; theme of power within societies (local, national and global)

• Changing Economic Structure of the UK (Year 9) and Crime (Year 7) - exploring social classes 

Cultural Development

• Tropical Rainforests (Year 7), Mountains (Year 7), Tourism (Year 8), Water (Year 9): an understanding of how different cultures view, use and interact with different environments and ecosystems. How they can impact upon them and preserve them; the importance of the above

• Population (Year 8): how culture influences population at national and global scales

• Disease and Development (Year 9): how culture affects how disease is viewed in society. How cultural factors can help or hinder development with a particular focus on gender issues

• Tourism (Year 9) : how culture and the perceived ‘right to travel’  influences a person. How culture might influence where a person travels to and why. How different cultures are affected by tourists visiting

British Values

A range of topics lend themselves to promoting our fundamental British values.  

Fairness and equality are explored within units such as development, population (including migration) crime, energy and climate change.  Here, students discuss the idea of corporate, individual and national responsibility and the overall fairness of global society.

Students alto learn about British history as they learn about the industrial revolution and how it has shaped our economy. Topics such as crime, population and development encourage students to understand what shapes British demography. Population ad migration allows students to understand the benefits and issues associated with living in a multicultural society and how important social cohesion and tolerance is. Embedding students understanding around the importance of living in a democracy is also developed through these topics.

The department undertakes a number of extra-curricular activities which enhance student confidence and their sense of belonging as members of our school society; key factors which underpin our British Values.