> Click here to view our Intent, Implementation, Impact Statement for Geography
Click below to view our learning journey map which shows how units are sequenced to deliver the skills, knowledge and understanding that students need to succeed.
> Click here to view our Geography Curriculum Map
The information below shows more about the teaching of geography at our school.
KS3
Throughout Key Stage 3, Geography aims to equip students with the set of skills and interest needed to allow them to become inquisitive learners at KS4 and beyond! The range of topics studied and the priority to develop deep thinking in each allows pupils at King Arthur’s to tackle even the most challenging of questions. With strong links with the English department also, geography aims to further push literacy through regularly encouraging extending writing and the understanding of various command words.
Year 7
Two of the first sets of skills we aim to develop in Year 7 are building student’s resilience and their ability to work with others. This is promoted in our initial ‘survival’ lessons to encourage pupils to develop these skills as much as possible. The remainder of the year sees students study topics that give them great foundation knowledge and understanding for the coming years.
· Geographical knowledge of local, national and global scales
· Map Skills
· Development
· Coasts
· Ecosystems
Year 8
Throughout this year we begin to expose students to more challenging ways of thinking and abstract content. This allows pupils to begin grappling with some of the key themes in geography such as sustainability and cause & effect, alongside developing the ability to evaluate effectively.
· Restless Earth
· Climate change and energy
· Fieldwork
· Weather and Climate
· Population
Year 9
As pupils get closer to their GCSEs, Year 9 aims to give pupils the opportunity to deepen their geographical understanding by studying topics that cross over both human and physical geography. Pupils will be challenged with the type of command words asked of them in Years 10 & 11 and taught content that aims to develop students who take a genuine interest in geography. Pupils are encouraged to enquire and find out more, which is the key to becoming a great geographer!
· The America’s
· Geology and UK Landforms
· Population
· Ecosystems
· Tropical Rainforests
· Hot and Cold Climates
KS4
GCSE Geography:
· Examination Board AQA
· 3 examination papers
Paper One Living with the Physical Environment (35%):
This unit is concerned with the dynamic nature of physical processes and systems, and human interaction with them in a variety of places and at a range of scales.
The aims of this unit are to develop an understanding of the tectonic, geomorphological, biological and meteorological processes and features in different environments, and the need for management strategies governed by sustainability and consideration of the direct and indirect effects of human interaction with the Earth and the atmosphere.
Areas covered-
Section A- The Challenge of Natural Hazards:
This unit explores the challenges created by tectonic and weather hazards and addresses the methods being used by people to respond to these events. Students will also investigate the causes, and effects of climate change as well as the strategies used to mitigate and adapt against it
Section B- The Living World
We will begin with describe the location of major biomes with particular focus on rainforests and hot or cold environments. We will be able to explain how physical, human and environmental elements of these biomes interact and how human activities and climate change will affect them. Students will evaluate whether the opportunities of using these environments outweigh the challenges using a case study to make this judgement.
Section C- Physical Landscapes in the UK
This unit we will be able to describe how processes shape UK Physical Landscapes. With a specific focus on River and Coastal processes. We will look at geographical formations and the interrelationship between physical and human aspects from land use, erosional impacts and preventing floods and coastal erosions. We will be able to explain how these processes are impacting on certain parts of the UK using specific examples.
Paper Two – UK Geographical Issues (35%)
This unit is concerned with human processes, systems and outcomes and how these change both spatially and temporally. They are studied in a variety of places and at a range of scales and must include places in various states of development, such as higher income countries (HICs), lower income countries (LICs) and newly emerging economies (NEEs).
The aims of this unit are to develop an understanding of the factors that produce a diverse variety of human environments; the dynamic nature of these environments that change over time and place; the need for sustainable management; and the areas of current and future challenge and opportunity for these environments.
Areas Covered-
Section A- Urban issues and challenges
To learn about the reasons why more people are living in urban areas and to address the opportunities and challenges of living in urban areas in HIC’s and LIC’s. An example of a HIC case study in the UK and an NEE, Lagos, Nigeria will be explored to create comparisons between two urban areas with differing rate of development
Section B- The changing economic world
We will learn about where there are global variations in economic development and quality of life. We will apply and understand various strategies that exist for reducing the global development gap through trade, aid and tourism to influence a countries development. We will study case studies of HIC and NEEs that are experiencing rapid economic development which leads to significant social, environmental and cultural change. These Case studies include investigating Lagos, Nigeria and London, UK.
Section C-The challenge of resource management
Finally for this second paper, we will be able to describe how energy, food and water demand is changing in the UK. We will focus on strategies the UK is using to managing increasing energy demand, changing food patterns and uneven water distribution. We will then zoom into explaining why food insecurity is an issue and the impacts this can cause locally and globally. We will evaluate the successes of certain methods and technology to grow more food to deal with these food insecurity issues around the world.
Paper 3: Geographical applications (30%)
The Geographical applications unit is designed to be synoptic in that students will be required to draw together knowledge, understanding and skills from the full course of study. It is an opportunity for students to show their breadth of understanding and an evaluative appreciation of the interrelationships between different aspects of geographical study.
Students are required to develop and demonstrate a range of geographical skills, including cartographic, graphical, numerical and statistical skills, throughout their study of the specification. Skills will be assessed in all three written exams. Ordnance Survey (OS) maps or other map extracts may be used in any of the three exams.
Areas Covered-
Section A- Issue evaluation
For our Issue evaluation we will receive a Pre-Release booklet in preparation for the Paper 3 Geographical Applications paper. This will be released towards the final terms of year 11. The content of this booklet is unknown however, when the school is aware of the content and focus, subsequent lessons will be created to accommodate the pre-release booklet.
Section B- Fieldwork
Human Fieldwork- For the Human Fieldwork we will visit an urban environment to create methods to collect data and explore a range of presentation methods to present this data. Students will also evaluate their methods and suggest improvements if they were to undertake their fieldwork again.
Physical Fieldwork- Our other fieldwork will be to a physical environment. Here we will apply knowledge gained in the UK Physical Landscapes unit to apply to the real-world fieldwork which is planned and implemented by students. Again we will create methods to collect data and explore a range of presentation methods to present this data. Students will also evaluate their methods and suggest improvements if they were to undertake their fieldwork again.
Section C- Geographical skills
Over the GCSE course we will have developed examination techniques and skills, and will consolidate this knowledge of the AQA specification through revision specifically for this paper and paper1 and 2