Curriculum Statement: Geography

The study of geography is about more than just memorizing places on a map. It's about understanding the complexity of our world, appreciating the diversity of cultures that exists across continents. And in the end, it's about using all that knowledge to help bridge divides and bring people together.  Barack Obama

The knowledge and skills that pupils will gain 

Geography is the study of people and place and allows students to make sense of the world that they live in. Physical geography includes the traditional study of processes that occur in the natural environment and their interaction with the human world.  From traditional topics such as coasts and rivers to current affairs and up to date, relevant examples of hazards and human mitigation strategies.  Human geography looks at the complex interaction of processes that shape our world from migration to development and how human intervention affects the environment and how people adapt and mitigate the effects of processes on their environment.  

Geography provides opportunities to learn modern computer-based mapping (GIS), map skills, interpreting photographs, fieldwork skills, presenting, role play and debating techniques.  Literacy is improved through report writing and practical use of your numeracy skills are used when interpretation data and constructing graphs. Fieldwork encourages independent thinking and encourages students to experience a different environment to the one that they live in.

Curriculum features: continuity, progression and sequencing 

Students begin year 9 with very different experiences of Geography as a result of a variety of feeder schools. Therefore, term one is set aside as an induction term where staff complete baseline testing and find out students’ knowledge and skills from KS3 by looking at broad ideas such as what is human and physical geography. 

Students begin GCSE Geography in term two. Over the three-year course students study a wide range of human and physical topics with common themes looking at human and natural causes of change, social, economic, environmental and political effects of change and immediate and long-term responses to environmental issues. Students development literacy skills such as the application of PEEL paragraphs and numeracy skills such as data interpretation.

At A level students build on their knowledge from GCSE but look much deeper at environmental issues and gain a passion for the subject with a much more thorough understanding of specific locations.  The NEA requires students to work independently to come up with a research questions that they will investigate using a variety of quantitative and qualitative methods.   

Tradition, Excellence, Character: Co-Curriculum enrichment

All GCSE students visit Hengistbury Head to study coastal processes and the impact of erosion in the physical environment. GCSE students also take part as a trip to Windsor Town Centre to look at the impact of tourism on the town centre. A level students complete a 4 day residential trip to Slapton Sands to look at the coastal environment as well as the regeneration of Plymouth. All compulsory trips are followed but with classwork looking at fieldwork enquiry skills. There are also optional trips to Naples at GCSE and Iceland at A level.