Congratulations to the Geography department at Brooke Weston Academy, which has been awarded the Secondary Geography Quality Mark and accredited as a Centre of Excellence for its teaching and learning in Geography.

All members of the department collaborated to collect data and evidence on teaching and the impact it had on outcomes, before submitting their bid to the Geographical Association, a leading body working with geography teachers nationally.

Juliette Smith, Head of Geography at Brooke Weston Academy, said, ‘The process involved gathering evidence to meet over twenty-two areas of the Quality Mark Framework on areas of our Geography department including; curriculum, teaching and learning, wider opportunities, assessment, feedback and leadership. Schools could also put forward additional evidence to apply for ‘Centre of Excellence’ status. We chose to apply for route 3 which was ‘Networking: through disseminating quality practice in geography locally or in a wider context’. We were successful in our additional application and were accredited Centre of Excellence status for our work with other Brooke Weston Trust schools, local primary school and ITE providers. Working towards the accreditation over the past year has meant that we have been able to maintain the high-quality teaching, learning and leadership across our Geography curriculum, which we felt was vital so that our students are not disadvantaged by the pandemic.’

Feedback from the Geographical Association National Moderation Team stated that ‘like all schools, the pandemic has forced a change in the way in which the curriculum is delivered, and we noted the way in which virtual fieldwork has been used to maintain student engagement with fieldwork and the outside world. The engagement you have with outside organisations and national competitions is excellent, and we were delighted to see that Brooke Weston has had successes in both the Young Geographer of the Year and UK Polar Network Antarctica Flag competitions’