Geography

Students have a baseline assessment in their first lessons to enable teachers to identify strengths and areas of weakness in thier geographical knowledge. Geography is not often taught as a discrete subject in primary schools and therefore students come to us with a range in levels of knowledge and understanding. Students begin Year 7 with an introduction to Geography, helping them to understand the three constituent parts: human, physical and environmental. Students then move on to looking at Plastic Pollution in the Oceans. This topic encourages students to understand the interdependence between humans and the environment, as well as understanding scale. Students move on to study map skills, which importantly allows them to develop key geographical skills necessary to support their understanding as they progress in geography. Students complete a scheme of work on river landscapes in which they are introduced to key physical processes such as erosion, which is important to support their study of coasts in Year 9 and rivers in Year 10. Students also complete fieldwork, a vital and compulsory practise in GCSE and A Level geography. Students study Urbanisation in Africa which links to the Urban Issues and challenges and Hazards they look at during GCSE Geography in Year 10.

Students start Year 8 looking at Tropical Rainforests where they learn about such things as plant adaptation but also tribes in the rainforest which helps to develop their understanding of cultural diversity. This allows students to completing a research project on another biome which also develops IT literacy skills and independent research skills which is vital in A Level Geography. Students then study population and migration. Their understanding of key human processes links heavily to topics in GCSE Geography such as Urban Issues and Challenges and Changing Economic World. Glaciation is studied next, providing students with key understanding of physical processes linked to the Physical Geography of the UK GCSE unit. Students finish Year 8 looking at energy and climate change, providing them with foundational knowledge for pressing contemporary issues, as well as key units at GCSE.

Students begin Year 9 by completing an appropriate version of the GCSE Coasts unit, which is then revisited in Year 11. Students learn about Development next, giving them an understanding of the causes and impacts of countries developing at different rates. This develops their knowledge and understanding of various GCSE and A Level topic areas which allows them to analyse other geographical content in the context of varying development. Students then complete a unit of geographical skills, building on prior practise and setting them up for success at GCSE and A Level. Finally, students complete a case study unit on the East London Olympic regeneration which includes a field trip to develop students' understanding of the case study which is used for GCSE.

Students begin GCSE Geography by looking at the Challenge of Natural Hazards. Students have a good foundation of knowledge having studied Hazards in Year 7, as well as other topics such as weather and climate, development and climate change. Students move on to Urban Issues and Challenges, drawing upon units studied in KS3. Living World is next and students draw upon thier knowledge of Rainforests and weather and climate. Students then move on to physical landscapes and river landscapes where students build on prior learning. Students begin Year 11 by revisiting and developing the work they did on coasts in Year 9. They then move on to Changing Economic World. Students complete the final unit of The Challenge of Resource Management, drawing upon understanding from previous learning, such as energy in Year 8. In Year 11 students also complete a compulsory fieldwork study and the work they've done throughout our Geography curriculum supports this.

At Key Stage 5, students have 8 lessons per fortnight which, in Geograpgy, is split equally between Human and Physical topics. There are six topics in total. The Physical topic areas are Water and Carbon, Coastal Systems and Hazards. The Human topic areas are Global Systems and Global Governance, Changing Places and Population and the Environment. In all topic areas, students utilise the geographical skills and knowledge they've developed in KS3 and KS4. In A Level Geography, students also complete an independent investigation which draws on prior knowledge of fieldwork and geographical skills, as well as those they develop in throughout their A level study.