Geography

Intent

Our knowledge-rich curriculum will inspire students to understand what it is to be a geographer. They will be able to carry out increasingly complex, independent geographical enquiry, ask their own relevant questions, make sense of geographical data, think critically about different views, and justify their own views in reaching conclusions. Our teaching will ensure students have a holistic understanding and an extensive bank of geographical knowledge and vocabulary, which will be learned and practiced regularly so that students are confident and comfortable using academic language in every context that requires it throughout their education and beyond.

Impact

Our curriculum will ensure all geographers will have an appreciation for the world they live in and a deeper understanding of how their actions can have an impact on the people and places around them. Students will have a drive and passion for finding out about the world and its people, as well as having a keen interest and inspiration to travel, in order to deepen their knowledge and understanding. Indeed, we enrich our curriculum through a range of field trips, visits and other extracurricular activities, including The Duke of Edinburgh Award, that all contribute to students developing strong independent learning skills, both within and outside of the classroom, and becoming critical and analytical learners. We foster enthusiasm for our discipline and subsequently prepare our students for further education and potentially careers in related fields.

KS3 (Year 7 & 8)

In Year 7 and 8 students will study a variety of topics to introduce them to key geographical skills and ideas.

These can then be built on if students choose to select this topic at GCSE. Students evaluate progress with assessments at regular intervals and enable appropriate and targeted intervention to support learning. Students are encouraged to reflect on their work so that they can improve further.

Below is a guide of what students will be studying over the course of Year 7 and 8.

Year 7	Geographical Skills	Ecosystems -Rainforests	Tectonics	Globalisation	Rivers	Development
Year 8	Deserts	Industry	Coasts	Weather and Climate	Geo Skills 2	Revision

If parents would like to do any extra reading or work around these subjects with their children, that would be fantastic. In particular, we find that those students who spend time outdoors, have opportunities to look at maps and see where they are going, and visit landscapes such as the coast or rivers, usually excel in Geography as they are able to visualise clearly what we are studying.

KS3 Scheme of work, useful resources & Web links - click here (Password Protected)

KS4 (Year 9, 10 & 11)

Students will take a three year GCSE course with three exams to be taken at the end of Year 11.

The specification is detailed in the link below:

www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/geography/gcse/geography-a-9030

We are following the AQA specification and the topics included are natural hazards, the living world, physical landscapes in the UK, challenges in the human environment and fieldwork and map skills. These topics allow students to study a broad range of geographical topics and fully prepare them for further geographical study.

Topics covered over the three years - starting Sep 2020:

Year 9	Natural Hazards	Weather Hazards/ Climate change	Resource management	Food Management	Urban World (Rio)	Urban Change in the UK (Bristol)
Year 10	Ecosystems	Cold Environments	The Development Gap	NEE Nigeria	The Changing UK Economy	Coastal Landscapes & Fieldwork
Year 11	River Landscapes	Revision	Paper 3 prep	Revision	Revision	Exam

KS4 Scheme of work, useful resources & Web links - click here (Password Protected)

KS5 (Year 12 & 13)

A Level Geography started this year and we aim to grow the subject considerably.

To ensure continuity from GSCE, we follow the AQA specification. More details can be obtained by following the link below:

www.aqa.org.uk/s ubjects/geography/as-and-a-level/geography-7037

Topics covered over the two years:

Human – Global systems and Governance	Physical - Hazards
Human – Changing places	Physical – Water and Carbon Cycles
Human – Contemporary Urban Environments	Physical – Coastal Systems and Landscape
NEA – Coursework

KS5 Scheme of work, useful resources & Web links - click here (Password Protected)

The Importance of Field Trips

Outdoor learning and experiencing the environment being taught is an integral aspect to Geography here at Highcrest.

With that in mind, students are offered a huge variety of field trips. The opportunities run throughout the Key Stages, have included local trips to High Wycombe, London, Wendover Woods and Lulworth Cove. We also have many trips further afield to Epping Forest, London, Majorca, Italy and Iceland and Naples, some have occurred in recent years and others are coming up.