Intent & Implementation



Our Curriculum Intent


How our subject curriculum is sequenced and why we plan it this way:

Discussion within the department to consider the topics to be taught and the sequencing of these topics.  Thought is given to the complexity of the subject matter and when is most appropriate to deliver this content.  Consideration is given to how it will enable pupils to make the most progress. 

In year 7 topics are designed to lay the foundations for their Geography learning with transferable skills and common Geographical themes and issues that can be then transferred across KS3 and KS4.  These topics are designed to give pupils background knowledge to then be built upon.


How we connect the knowledge over the key stages (deliberate connections):

Students begin with ‘Getting KS3 ready’ that covers all the KS2 curriculum strands such as lines of latitude and longitude, physical geography and human geography and continents, UK Geography, Europe and North America.  This then enables them to build on and develop their KS3 curriculum.

Following on in year 7 pupils are then introduced to a physical topic, Tropical rainforests which continues with the global scale of physical Geography.  

In year 8 pupils learn about Ethiopia and India as an in depth place case study.  This continues from their learning in year 7 on natural resources plus prepares them for the case study used in KS4 for ‘Dynamic Development.’  

In year 9 pupils consolidate their knowledge of the world around them by applying an understanding of key physical and human processes to Russia and the MIddle East.

At KS4 we alternate between the physical and human topics.  THis was pupils are getting an interleaved coverage of the course, as opposed to all the paper one topics being covered in year 10 and paper two topics being covered in year 11.  This also helps to support paper three, which is a synoptic paper and helps pupils to make links and connections throughout the course.   

Finally, before moving on from one topic to another, pupils are invited to make links and connections between them.  For instance asking pupils why we might be studying ‘Natural Resources’ after the topic ‘Tropical Rainforests.’


How we make our subject knowledge stick:

  • Through regular retrieval activities at the start of every lesson and through careful planning and questioning to highlight the links with other aspects of the curriculum.

  • This is supported by the homework schedule which is designed to complement the curriculum taught in lessons.  Weekly tasks help students to learn key vocabulary and information to support and reinforce their learning in lessons.

  • Homework tasks require students to learn the vocabulary and information and marks are recorded, enabling teachers to identify gaps and support students.

  • Concepts and themes run through the course and the curriculum is planned to build on previous learning within the same year and previous years

  • Key skills are planned and taught through each year and become more complex over time, although more able students are challenged to go beyond 

  • Key aspects of knowledge are repeated through retrieval practice to help enable progress through the units 

  • Regular retrieval practice including repetition

  • Design of the homework tasks including repetition

  • Implicit teaching of tier 3 vocabulary. 

  • End of topic assessments that mirror the exam style questions for KS3 and past papers/ questions for KS4.  Pupils are given advance notice so have the opportunity to revise.


How We Allow All Students to Succeed ( included SEND and disadvantaged )


How we allow all students to reach our ambitious subject end points:

  • Carefully planned and sequenced curriculum

  • Homework is carefully planned and assessed to embed key vocabulary and knowledge 

  • Careful seating plans and use of prior data such as Classcharts, pupil passports and reading ages

  • Strategies from pupil passports are used to support SEND pupils. 

  • Parental contact to communicate students’ progress

  • Planned intervention for targeted Year 11 students after school

  • Department spreadsheets enable recording and monitoring of students’ progress and identify where support is required

  • Differentiated reading booklets at GCSE to reduce cognitive load and support and challenge students of all abilities.

  • Reference is made to the SEND document to support teaching and learning: Click here


Our Curriculum Overview

Curriculum Overview KS3 (Click here)

Curriculum Overview KS4 (Click here)


Our Curriculum Learning Pathway

KS3 and KS4 Subject Curriculum Pathway (PDF)


Our Curriculum

Year 7 

  • What is Geography?  How can Geography help me to understand the world we live in?
  • Tropical Rainforests.  Why are tropical rainforests an important global ecosystem and why do they need protecting?
  • Population and migration  What are the global patterns of population and how has it changed over time?  What factors influence a population and was China right to adopt the one child policy? What influences people to migrate and what can the impacts be? 
  • Natural resources Are natural resources being used at an unsustainable rate?  How can we solve the use of resources that will eventually run out?  Are natural resources used sustainably in the Middle East
  • Hydrology and glaciation How did the ice erode, transport and deposit material to create distinctive glacial landscapes?  Why are glacial landscapes popular tourist destinations? How does the river erode, transport and deposit material?  How does a river change from source to mouth?  What distinctive landforms can a river create? 
  • Coasts  How does the sea erode, transport and deposit beach material?  How does a coastal landscape change over time?  What are the distinctive coastal landforms and how are they formed? How can we manage a coastline to protect against coastal erosion?  


Year 8

  • Ethiopia and India What are the physical and human characteristics of Ethiopia and India? Where are they located?  How is India and Ethiopia the same?  How is India and Ethiopia different? 
  • Natural hazards What is a natural hazard?   How are tropical storms formed and what are the consequences?  How do plate tectonics shape the land?  What causes earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis and what are the consequences?  How can we reduce the impacts of natural hazards? 
  • Extreme global impacts Extreme cities, Extreme tourism, Extreme global commons 


Year 9

  • Russia and the Middle East How am I connected to Russia and the Middle East?
  • Fast Fashion  How sustainable is my new outfit? 
  • GIS and Geographical skills How can we use GIS to understand our local area? 
  • Weather and Climate What is the difference between weather and climate? What is our atmosphere and how does it impact life on earth?
  • Climate Change Why is the climate change emergency a global issue?


Transition & Building on KS2 / KS3

CCC has worked closely with our primary partners during 2021/22.  We have shared knowledge on the curriculum intents at key stage two and key stage three to enhance student transition and the sequencing of learning.  

Pupils start with the topic ‘Getting KS3 ready’ which helps them with the transition from KS2 to KS3.  This gives all pupils the same KS2 overview and allows them to all start their KS3 Geography having had the same recap and review.  


Key Stage 3

The aim of the Geography curriculum is to 

  • Encourage all pupils to be curious, excited and ask questions about the world they live in.
  • Give pupils the knowledge and tool kit to understand the diverse Devon landscapes and their local Geography 
  • To enable pupils to be investigators in geographical enquiry to better understand the complex and ever changing world we live in. 


Our Geography curriculum encourages students to be curious about the world they live in and about processes that are happening in the world today. It aims to take students beyond their own personal experiences.  The geography curriculum at Cullompton Community College is all about making students excited about the relationships between humans and the environment at a local, national, and global level. 

Devon is home to many diverse landscapes including North and South Devon coastlines, Dartmoor and the River Exe and therefore Cullompton Community College students will have first hand experience of the physical processes that take place to create and change these landscapes.  By gaining specific geographical knowledge about these processes that shape our local landscapes and beyond, students are given a toolkit that gives them the power to explain and analyse these processes.  Cullompton Community College students have the power to explain and analyse these processes by seeking explanations about the world they live in and apply geographical ideas about alternative futures

In geography at Cullompton Community College, we will help our young people to understand a highly interdependent and complex world by exploring contemporary global issues such as the climate change emergency, fast fashion, the use of natural resources, and environmental degradation. Students will learn to be active participants and investigators in geographical enquiry, not just passive recipients of knowledge. An enquiry approach helps students to engage with, and make sense of, geographical data, and encourages a questioning approach supported by evidence from the real world

Fieldwork is a fundamental aspect of the Cullompton Community College  geography curriculum, as students experience the power of primary (first-hand) data collection (which can then be triangulated with secondary data), as they apply theory from substantive knowledge by witnessing, recording and evaluating the geographical processes occurring in their local area. 

The study of Geography is designed to inspire a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives.


Key Stage 4

Study of the GCSE content begins in Year 10. 

The aims and learning outcomes of OCR’s GCSE Geography are to enable learners to build on their KS3 knowledge of skills.  

  • Develop and extend their knowledge of locations, places, environments and processes of different scales including global within social, political and cultural contexts. 

  • Gain understanding of the interactions between people and environments, change in places and processes over space and time, and the inter-relationship between geographical knowledge at different scales and in different contexts.  This encourages pupils to think like a Geographer. 

  • Develop a range of skills, including those used in fieldwork, using maps, GIS and researching secondary evidence in applying sound enquiry and investigate approaches to question hypotheses.  This encourages learners to study like a Geographer. 

  • Apply geographical knowledge, understanding, skills and approaches appropriate to real world contexts, including fieldwork, and to contemporary situations and issues, and develop well evidenced arguments drawing on their geographical knowledge and understanding.  This encourages learners to apply their geographical knowledge. 

The key features of the OCR specification include 

  • Exciting content studied in topics and brought to life by engaging enquiry questions.  

  • Opportunities to study in-depth contemporary case studies, across a range of scales

  • Study of the Geography in the 21st century

  • Exploration of the interconnections through synoptic assessment

  • Geographical skills, including fieldwork, being embedded within assessment


What Examination Course(s) do we follow?

OCR GCSE 9-1.  OCR Geography B.  Geography for Enquiring Minds.   (J384) 

Our Natural World (35% of total GCSE) 

  • Global Hazards
  • Changing Climate
  • DIstinctive Landscapes 
  • Sustaining Ecosystems 
  • Fieldwork and Geographical Skills. 

People and Society (35% of total GCSE) 

  • Urban Futures 
  • Dynamic Development 
  • UK in the 21st Century 
  • Resource Reliance 
  • Fieldwork and Geographical Skills. 

Geographical Exploration (30% of total GCSE)

  • Geographical Skills 
  • Decision Making Exercise


Curriculum Impact- How we measure attainment and progress:

Geography assessment happens in many ways. 

Assessment takes place in every Geography lesson.  Short, day to day assessment happens as google form quizzes, writing answers on mini white boards, true/false statements and teacher led questioning.  Feedback can be self and peer assessment where pupils are invited to identify their own success and an area for improvement.  Once a topic has been completed, pupils will complete a more formal assessment based on geography benchmarks and we can make a final evaluation of pupil achievement.  This is a combination of knowledge and understanding based on shorter questions worth 1-4 marks and then longer questions with opportunities for extended writing.   Geographical skills are also assessed with analysis and interpretation of a variety of maps at different scales as well as graphs and geographical data. 

 In Year 7 the focus is on knowledge,(define, recall and describe)  comprehension (summarize and compare) and application (use, interpret and relate).  As pupils progress into Year 8 the level of skill increases and the focus moves onto higher order thinking such as analysis (conclusions, prioritising), synthesis, (reflect, predict, speculate, design) and evaluation (assess, judge, compare and contrast).

 At KS4, assessment is still continuous during every lesson with a greater focus on recall based on the previous lesson.  Pupils are given sample assessment materials and past GCSE papers at the end of a topic to evaluate knowledge and understanding plus developing their exam technique and command words.  Mock exams focus on knowledge and understanding and include a wide range of skills.


How do we enrich our subject outside the classroom?

In Geography we enrich the subject outside the classroom by taking the pupils on field trips such as coastal fieldwork in Dawlish Warren and urban fieldwork to local cities such as Exeter.  Pupils are also given the opportunity to explore their local Geography by conducting enquiries within Cullompton and visiting the River Culm.  

Pupils are also encouraged to watch documentaries such as Planet Earth.  Human Planet and Blue Planet. 


Useful Websites