Geography - Curriculum Intent, Implementation and Impact

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Intent

The rationale of our geography department is to enable our pupils and students to be informed and conscientious present and future citizens of their world. Our ambition is for pupils to experience a broad, progressive and ambitious Geography curriculum that rich in skills and knowledge. We aim to stimulate curiosity and a wonder of their world in order to enable them to become empowered global citizens, who have a cultural literacy and are prepared for future learning or employment.

Our Geography curriculum is designed around the National Curriculum and influenced by the Geographical Association’s manifesto for Geography. It provides opportunities for pupils to develop their geographical skills, knowledge and understanding and progressively develop these as they move through Key Stages 3, 4 and 5. The key geographical concepts that underpin our curriculum include place, interdependence, sustainable development, risk, resilience among others.

Implementation

We are a department with 2 dedicated subject specialists and our classes are taught in mixed ability groups for 2 lessons per week. In Year 7, our preliminary test aims to establish pupils’ prior geographical knowledge, understanding and skill level before moving on to begin our curriculum. We teach a variety of physical, human and environmental topics throughout the 3 years and begin a new topic each half term. Each unit of work is carefully planned, with a pupil overview document outlining what they will cover in the unit, the key vocabulary and the format of the unit’s assessment. Work is scaffolded to enable progression of all pupils and extension tasks included to stretch and challenge the more able. Class teachers differentiate to the needs of their classes. Summative end of year assessments are also factored in to test and reinforce what has been learned throughout the year. All pupils are given the time and opportunity to reflect on each of their assessments and learning with the aim of reviewing their methods of learning and revising, addressing misconceptions and building resilience from making mistakes.

We carry all these principles through the Key Stage 4 and 5, where we follow the AQA exam specification. We have 3 periods a week with KS4 and 5 with KS 5.

We recognise the importance of fieldwork in our department and aim to provide a fieldwork experience in every Key Stage, with residential visits in Key Stage 4 and 5. These opportunities enable students to apply their skills, knowledge and understanding within both human and physical Geography.

Impact

We consistently have a good number of pupils choosing to study geography at GCSE, usually with 3 groups. We get a good number of these continuing with us at A Level and our 2020 results maintained our ALPS score of 3. We also achieved 25% A* at A Level and 100% A*-C. Each year we have a pleasing number of our geographers opting to study geography or closely related disciplines at university and through studying geography our students gain valuable skills, much sought after by universities and employers for example data analysis, evaluation skills, essay writing, critical thinking, independent report writing among many more.

 

 

GEOGRAPHY

Year 7

• It’s Your Planet – Looking at the development of Earth over the last 4.6 billion years

• Map Skills – OS Map and Atlas skills

• UK geography – the human and physical geography of the UK

• Coasts – natural processes, coastal landform development and human use and management of the coast

• Africa – An overview of the geography of the African continent before focusing in on the regional geography of East Africa.

 

Year 8

• Natural Hazards – How earthquakes and volcanoes happen and the impact they have on people and the environment.

• Population and Migration – Looking at world population growth and where and why people migrate to/from

• Rivers – natural processes, river landform development and human use and management of the coast

• Asia - An overview of the physical and human geography of the Asian continent before focusing in on China.

 

Year 9

• Antarctica – Looking at why this wilderness area is so important and what threatens it

• Earning a Living – What jobs people do and how/ why this has changed over time

• Ecosystems – An overview of ecosystems and biomes, then a detailed look at tropical rainforests.

• Earth’s Resources – looking at the resources we need to survive.

• Russia – the physical and human geography of Russia.

 

 

AQA Geography GCSE

 

Unit 1 – 35% - 1hr 30 exam

Living with the physical environment (88 marks)

• The challenges of natural hazards

• The living world

• Physical landscapes in the UK – coasts and rivers

• Geographical skills

 

Unit 2 – 35% - 1hr 30 exam

Challenges in the human environment (88 marks)

• Urban issues and challenges

• The changing economic world

• The challenge of resource management

• Geographical skills

 

Unit 3 – 30% - 1hr 15 exam

Geographical applications (76 marks)

• Issue evaluation

• Fieldwork

• Geographical skills

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AQA A Level Geography

 

Component 1 Physical Geography (40%)

• A written exam lasting 2 hours and 30 minutes

  • Section A: Water and carbon cycles

  • Section B: Coastal systems and landscapes

  • Section C: Hazards

 

Component 2: Human Geography (40%)

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• A written exam lasting 2 hours and 30 minutes

  • Section A: Global systems and global governance

  • Section B: Changing places

  • Section C: Population and the environment 

 

Component 3: Geographical Fieldwork Investigation (20%)

• A 3000-4000 word independent investigation

  • Students complete an individual investigation which must include data collected in the field.

  • The individual investigation must be based on a question or issue defined and developed by the

student relating to any part of the specification content.