Welcome to the Geography Department

Introduction

Geography is a subject dedicated to study of the lands, the features, the people, and the phenomena of the Earth. The aim of the Geography department is to help our students understand the changing world around them. We want our students to develop the skills they need to help them in doing this.

At KS3, Geography is taught as a separate subject in Years 7, 8 and 9. Pupils in Year 7 and Year 9 have one 50 minute lesson a week and in Year 8, two lessons a week. The nature of Geography means that the content of schemes of work and lesson plans are updated and changed regularly, so that we are able to react quickly to significant world events. We aim to provide our pupils with a rich, varied and engaging curriculum.

Year 7 pupils begin the year with an introductory unit called Fantastic Places. They then do a unit that combines the study of Settlements with Map Skills. This unit also contains their first (of three) levelled assessments. They will then work on units of work about Water Resources, Global Warming, and River Landforms.

Year 8 start the year with a unit studying Earthquake Hazards, part of which includes an assessment relating to a recent earthquake. Other units they study include China, Russia, Weather & Climate, and a final unit about Limestone Scenery in the North of England (which forms the basis for their main field trip in KS3).

Year 9 begin the year with a unit about Development in Africa, again forming the basis of a significant assessment in Year 9. Other units studied in Year 9 include Deserts & Rainforests, Conflict, and Glaciers.

 

At KS4, Geography is a subject students can opt to take. Geography is a successful and popular subject at KS4. There are three lessons a week for GCSE.

Students in Y10 and Y11 follow the new GCSE AQA Geography. This includes units about ‘The Challenge of Natural Hazards’, ‘Physical Landscapes in the UK’, ‘The Changing Economic World’. ‘The Living World’, ‘The Challenge of Resource management’ and ‘Urban Issues & Challenges’. There is no Controlled Assessment in the new syllabus, but there is instead a third exam paper about field work skills and also includes a problem solving/ decision making exercise.

 

The department offers a variety of extra-curricular activities including a four day trip to Iceland. The main field trip the department runs is a day trip to Malham in the Yorkshire Dales in Year 8. At KS4 field work takes place in Manchester & Liverpool, Derbyshire, Rivington and a residential trip to Dorset. There are further opportunities to take part in fieldwork such as trips to the Lake District.

Staff permanently in the Geography Department are:

Mrs L Williams and Mrs J Ferguson also teach Geography in school on a temporary basis.