Geography

Aim to give learners the opportunity to understand more about the world, the challenges it faces and their place within it. This course will build on KS3 and deepen understanding of geographical processes, the impact of change and of complex people-environment interaction, highlight the dynamic links and interrelationships between places and environments at different scales, and develop students’ competence in using a range of geographical investigative skills and approaches. It will enable pupils to become globally and environmentally informed and thoughtful, enquiring citizens.

The study of geography in a balanced framework of physical and human themes and investigates the link between them. Students will explore case studies from around the globe and in the United Kingdom (UK), higher income countries (HICs), newly emerging economies (NEEs) and lower income countries (LICs). Topics of study include climate change, poverty, deprivation, global shifts in economic power and the challenge of sustainable resource use. Students are also encouraged to understand their role in society, by considering different viewpoints, values and attitudes. Students are required to study case studies and examples. Case studies are broader in context and require greater breadth and depth of knowledge and understanding. Examples are more focused on a specific event or situation, are smaller in scale and do not cover the same degree of content.
Key Skills:

• develop and extend knowledge of locations, places, environments and processes, and of different scales including global; and of social, political and cultural contexts (know geographical material).
• gain understanding of the interactions between people and environments, change in places and processes over space and time, and the inter-relationship between geographical phenomena at different scales and in different contexts (think like a geographer)
• develop and extend their competence in a range of skills including those used in fieldwork, in using maps and GIS and in researching secondary evidence, including digital sources; and develop their competence in applying sound enquiry and investigative approaches to questions and hypotheses (study like a geographer)
• apply geographical knowledge, understanding, skills and approaches appropriately and creatively to real world contexts, including fieldwork, and to contemporary situations and issues; and develop well-evidenced arguments drawing on their geographical knowledge and understanding (applying geography).

The subject content is split into four units: 3.1 Living with the physical environment, 3.2 Challenges in the human environment*, 3.3 Geographical applications and 3.4 Geographical skills. In units 3.1 and 3.2 the content is split into sections, with each section focusing on a particular geographical theme. These geographical themes make up the units taught across the two years of the course. To ensure variety the human and physical units are mixed up across the two years and also ensures that one unit isn’t being assessed after a year of not been looked at. Furthermore, this allows the range of command words and skills needed for assessments to be assessed in both units, being built and developed across both human and physical units.   

* one theme of this unit (The Challenge of Resource Management) is taught in Y9 to ease the burden on time in Y10 and 11.  This theme was selected as it can be taught to completion in year 9 and is a theme of growing importance to mankind. Thus making it relevant to the world today and of interest to students, even those who have not selected Geography as an option.

Half Term 1

Urban Issues

Half Term 2

Living World

Half Term 3

Coastal Landscapes

Half Term 4

River Landscapes

Half Term 5

DME

Half Term 6

Consolidation

Half Term 1

Natural Hazards

Half Term 2

Changing Economic World

Half Term 3

Pre-release

Half Term 4

Consolidation