Geography

"Geography explains the past, illuminates the present and prepares us for the future. What could be more important than that?"

Sir Michael Palin, President of the Royal Geographical Society, 2009 - 2012

Geography needs to develop geographers – citizens of the world, who can see, analyse and evaluate issues of places, landscapes, people, processes and resources. We need to encourage our students to think creatively and analytically about the world at a range of scales. They need to know about places and the processes that effect those places. They need to understand the range of decisions that people make about places and how others are affected by these decisions and processes. Examples from the local area and from around the world are to be used to encourage empathy and data analysis. Fieldwork is to be used following the enquiry approach and developing the level of independence through the key stages. As a foundation subject, we need to develop students’ numeracy, literacy and ICT skills. Students need to be at ease with comparing the importance and validity of different types of data. Links with STEM need to be observed regularly and career opportunities which utilise Geography need to be celebrated.

Within Geography, our character programme aims to develop students who can persevere in seeking solutions to real world problems with others, using their insight, analysis and inter-personal skills. We seek to guide students in grasping what is ethically important in situations and how to act for the right reasons, so that they become more autonomous and reflective. In this process, the ultimate aim of character education is the development of good sense or practical wisdom (phronesis): the capacity to choose intelligently between alternatives.

The Geography curriculum follows a spiral and progressive design allowing students to revisit topics or themes several times throughout KS3, 4 and 5. The complexity or difficulty of the topic or theme increases with each revisit. Themes include world climate zones and ecosystems, extreme weather and microclimates, tectonic hazards, development, population, urbanisation, globalisation and superpowers, climate change, tectonic hazards, resource management with a focus on food, rivers and coasts. In each year, the themes investigated are brought together with a study of place. In year 7 this is the United Kingdom, studied for its climate, geology, relief, glaciation, population and employment. In year 8, we study the themes of climate zones, population, development, conflict, natural resources through the Middle East topic. In year 9, the themes of development, urbanisation and natural resources are further explored and consolidated with the study of the Nigeria topic. These themes are revisited at GCSE and A level. At GCSE we use the OCR – B specification, ‘Geography for Enquiring Minds’ and at A Level we follow the Edexcel specification.

Curriculum Overview KS3, KS4 and KS5

Key Stage 3

By the end of Key Stage 3 we will have:

Developed the students’ world knowledge of significant places
Developed the students’ local knowledge of immediate places
Enabled the students to define the physical and human characteristics of places
Provided place based opportunities to learn about physical and human processes
Helped the students to understand that the impacts of these processes vary through time and across spatial scales
Developed the students’ geographical skills of description, explanation, interpretation, analysis and evaluation using secondary data provided or gathered during fieldwork
Developed their geographical skills of observation and accuracy during fieldwork and primary data collection
Helped the students to be at ease with interpreting information from maps, globes, diagrams, aerial photographs, and data rich layers of Geographical Information Systems
Developed the students’ written skills coupled with clear graphical, cartographical techniques so that they are literate and numerate in their communication of geography.

Year 7 Geography Curriculum Map

Curriculum tracker statements - Year 7

Year 8 Geography Curriculum Map

Curriculum tracker statements – Year 8

Curriculum tracker statements – Year 9

KS3 Reading List

Key Stage 4

At Key Stage 4 we study the OCR Exam Board – Geography B – ‘Geography for Enquiring Minds’:

This scheme of work was chosen to enable the students to ‘think like geographers’ by developing an enquiry approach to place-based studies. Specific case studies are selected to draw together the physical and human features of places or events during Years 10 and 11.

Paper 1 – Our Natural World (1 hour and 15 minutes) – 70 marks / 35% of the final grade.

Global Hazards (Tectonic and Climatic)
Changing climate
Distinctive landscapes (Rivers and Coasts)
Sustaining ecosystems (Tropical and Polar)

This exam paper will also test the students’ understanding of their coastal fieldwork from the day trip to Walton-on-the-Naze, on the Essex coast

Paper 2 – People and Society (1 hour and 15 minutes) – 70 marks / 35% of the final grade.

Urban futures
Dynamic development
UK in the 21st century
Resource reliance

This exam paper will also test the students’ understanding of their urban fieldwork from the day trip to the Olympic Park in Stratford.

Paper 3 – Geographical Exploration (1 hour and 30 minutes) – 60 marks / 30% of the final grade.

The location that provides the focus for this paper is unknown before the students sit the exam, so what is being examined is the way that the students are able to draw upon their understanding of physical and human processes and the impacts that different events or decisions can have upon a place. As well as clear written analysis, and the ability to make synoptic links, in this paper the students are being examined on their geographical skills:

Cartographic
Graphical
Numerical
Statistical

This paper includes a decision-making exercise, so the students have to demonstrate their critical thinking skills and how they develop arguments in their written responses.

Curriculum tracker statements – Year 10

Curriculum tracker statements – Year 11

Key Stage 5

At Key Stage 5 we study the Pearson Edexcel A Level specification

This specification offers an issues-based approach to the study of geography, with the concepts of players (stakeholders), attitudes and actions, and uncertainties regarding the future, providing synoptic links. Each component of the course has place-based studies to provide context for the students to apply their knowledge and understanding.

Paper 1 – Physical Geography (2 hours and 15 minutes) – 105 marks / 30% of the qualification

Tectonic Processes and Hazards
Coastal Landscapes and Change (landscape option)
The Water Cycle and Water Insecurity
The Carbon Cycle and Energy Security

Paper 2 – Human Geography (2 hours and 15 minutes) – 105 marks / 30% of the qualification

Globalisation
Regenerating Places (shaping places option)
Superpowers
Migration, Identity and Sovereignty (global development option)

Paper 3 – Synoptic paper (2 hours and 15 minutes) – 70 marks / 20% of the qualification

This paper links two or more of the compulsory content of the syllabus – tectonics, water, carbon, globalisation and superpowers to a particular place for the student to study and comment on the geographical issues, processes and implications for that place in a synoptic manner. A resource booklet is provided for the students to draw upon for their analysis.

Coursework – Independent Investigation (Non-Examined Assessment) – 70 marks / 20% of the qualification.

Each student defines their own question or issue for investigation. This topic is their choice, but must relate to an aspect of the course specification. They will undertake primary research independently, or whilst on the field trips organised in year 12. They will also gather their own secondary data and incorporate this into their report. All the training required for the fieldwork, data collection, presentation and analysis will be provided during the latter half of Year 12 and the Autumn Term of Year 13. The final report produced by the student will be 3000 – 4000 words in length.

We prepare our sixth formers for their Independent Investigation with three fieldwork opportunities. Firstly to the North Norfolk coast where we stay in Sheringham, looking at the psammosere of Holkham Sands, the coastal defences of Sheringham and Sea Palling and the coastal processes actively at work at Blakeney Point and Happisburgh. Our contrasting urban studies are of Sheringham and Great Yarmouth, with a particular focus on regeneration. The second field trip is the River Gade, examining the river processes and flood management techniques along its course. Finally, we undertake a daytrip to Brick Lane, investigating urban change and the process of regeneration.

We hope through all these experiences to create young people with enquiring minds and an awareness that ‘Geography is everywhere’!

“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.”

T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets