Geography

Intent Statement

Our aim is to deliver a wide and varied curriculum and provide students with the knowledge they need to place local, national and global events in context and evaluate them critically. We try to stimulate an appreciation of the variety of landscapes throughout the world and to open students’ eyes to the beauty of landscape features and environments. We aim to provide students with a solid foundation on which to build their futures, and effectively equip them with the knowledge, skills and understanding that they need to integrate and be successful in an increasingly demanding world. It builds on students’ own experiences to investigate places at all scales, from the personal to the global. Geography inspires students to become global citizens by exploring their own place in the world, their values and their responsibilities to other people, to the environment and to the sustainability of the planet.

Curriculum

KS3

Students are taught Geography in mixed ability key stage groups and have 1x 50 minute lesson per week. In Key stage 3 work is adapted and personalised to meet the needs of each individual students and there is a focus on literacy skills through the Geography curriculum. We aim to provide students with a broad and balanced geographical education, closely following the National Curriculum, that inspires an active curiosity of our dynamic world and one that is challenging, current and relevant to students’ lives. Our primary focus is to develop and extend students’ locational knowledge and key geographical skills whilst also increasing their ability to think critically, follow lines of enquiry, make decisions and become independent, resilient learners. We want students to feel confident in asking questions about the world around them and be able to appreciate the wonders of our planet.

KS4

In Years 10 and 11, students are taught in mixed ability groups. Students will have up to 2×60 minute lessons per week. We follow the AQA GCSE syllabus with units which include:

• Paper 1: Living with the physical environment: 1) The challenge of natural hazards. 2) The living world 3) Physical landscapes in the UK. 4) Geographical skills.     
• Paper 2: Challenges in the human environment: 1) Urban issues and challenges. 2) The challenges of resource management. 3) Geographical skills.
• Paper 3: Geographical applications: 1) Issue evaluation. 2) Fieldwork. 3) Geographical skills.
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KS5

We teach the AQA syllabus 7036 and 7037 for AS and A-level Geography

AS level:

• Component 1: Physical geography and people and the environment: Section A: Water and Carbon Cycles; Section B: Contemporary urban environments. (50%)
• Component 2: Human geography and geography fieldwork investigation: Section A: Changing Places; Section B: Geography fieldwork investigation and geographical skills. (50%)

A-level:

• Component 1: Physical geography: Section A: Water and Carbon Cycles; Section B: Coastal systems. Section C: Hazards. (40%)
• Component 2: Human geography: Section A: Global systems and global governance; Section B: Changing places; Section C: Resource security (40%)
• Component 3: Geography Fieldwork Investigation – Essay 3,000-4,000 words (20%)