Geography
Students will develop a clear understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes that have shaped our landscape and environments.
The learning in geography will enhance students’ interchangeable skills in communication, numeracy and ICT. We want students to develop geographical skills: collecting and analysing data, using maps, atlases, globes, aerial photographs and digital mapping to name, identify and locate countries, continents and oceans. We aim to ensure that students are able to communicate their learning in a variety of ways, including sketch maps with a key and diagrams, tables and graphs and writing.
The department aims to provide a breadth of study in geography. The course enables all students to apply their knowledge and understanding of key concepts to new situations with confidence and to solve problems independently, as well as developing critical thinking. We encourage all students to be able to pose questions, hypothesise, observe and evaluate, using their knowledge and understanding of geography and moral issues. Our department aims to encourage all students to be aware of the technological, social, political, ethical, environmental and economic implications of geography. The topics we study are interlinked and build on previous skills and content whilst introducing new knowledge and concepts.
To further demonstrate the importance of geography, the department will continue to foster relationships with other subjects outside of the humanities umbrella to make links clear to students. These include a wide variety of topics such as climate change, earth science, maths skills, literacy, SMSC, superpowers and study of the local area.
We want students to enjoy and love learning about geography both inside and outside the classroom, including educational visits to develop fieldwork and to practice their geographical skills. We will do this through visits to the coastline, nearby cities, the local area, including the River Lea and inside our school grounds. We feel that this demonstrates how even our most local surroundings can offer an insight into the wider world.
At all times in geography classes we encourage students to develop and build on our school values. This can be seen through the attitude both inside and outside of the classroom towards the subject among the students. We use these skills as a basis for enhancing students' awareness, encouraging them to think about the local, national and international world around them - we fully believe that we are developing true “world citizens”.
KEY STAGE 3:
Year 7 Topics:
- Geography and Me
- 4 Spheres
- Population and Settlements
- Kenya
- Weather and Climate
- Rivers
Year 8 Topics:
- Natural Hazards; Tectonics
- Natural Hazards; Weather
- Climate and Energy
- Amazing Landscapes
- Globalisation
- China
Year 9 Topics
- Biomes
- Tropical Rainforest
- Superpowers
- Russia
- The UK
- Fieldwork
Assessments will be in a variety of formats including;
- written pieces of work, for example a Decision Making Exercise (DME)
- multiple choice style questions
- recall of knowledge from previous topics
- presentations
Key Stage 4
We deliver the Edexcel B Specification (Pearson) to our Key Stage 4 students. To prepare students for their final exams we ensure that we practice all skills and knowledge required, and expose students to the different formats of questions that they could be faced with in the exams.
Paper 1 - Global Geographical Issues
- Topic 1 - Hazardous Earth
- Topic 2 - Development Dynamics
- Topic 3 - Challenges of an Urbanising World
Paper 2 - UK Geographical Issues
- Topic 1 - UK's Evolving Physical Landscape
- Topic 2 - UK's Evolving Human Landscape
- Topic 3 - Fieldwork Skills
Paper 3 - People and Environmental Issues
- Topic 1 - People and the Biosphere
- Topic 2 - Forests Under Threat
- Topic 3 - Consuming Energy Resources
Enrichment
- Fieldwork opportunities
- Reading lists and geography in the news
- Online webinars
- Eco Council
To ensure our school is becoming more sustainable, we have founded an Eco-Council. We meet weekly to strategise and implement ideas which will help our school become environmentally friendly and work towards getting our green flag. All year groups are able to get involved in our eco council.
Key Skills you will learn:
- Locational knowledge, including map and atlas work
- Place knowledge
- Human and physical geography – the characteristics of locations and the processes affecting them and their populations. How people interact with their environments
- GIS (Geographical Information Systems)
- Literacy and numeracy development
- Critical thinking and problem solving.
Geographic skills provide the necessary tools and techniques for us to think geographically. They are central to geography’s distinctive approach to understanding Earth’s physical and human patterns and processes… Geographic skills are used in making decisions important to everyday life - where to buy or rent a home; where to get a job; how to get to work or to a friend’s house; and where to shop, vacation, or go to school.
National Geographic
Next Steps:
Courses:
- A Levels e.g. geography, geology, environmental science, sociology, psychology, politics, ethics and philosophy
- BTECs and other vocational routes such as T Levels e.g. travel and tourism, sciences, agriculture, land management and production, design, surveying and planning for construction
- University Courses such as: geography BA or BSc, environmental science, architecture, geology, archaeology, law, town planning, global studies, international relations, anthropology
To find out More:
Why you should study geography
Contact:
Lead Teacher: Ms E Arane - earane@qesluton.co.uk