Geography

(School Trip to Iceland)

Department prayer

Loving God,

Lord of heaven and Earth, this Earth, our home, belongs to you.

Give us grace to love it as you do.

Give us courage to give ourselves, as you do, for the good of all people and all of your creation.

Strengthen us to stand, as you do, with the vulnerable poor.

Give us wisdom to know when we have enough, and the voice to say “enough” to all that harms creation and hurts the poorest.

This Earth, our home, belongs to you.

Enable us, to open our eyes and see that through Geography you provide us the answers.

Amen.

Famous quotes

“The study of geography is about more than just memorizing places on a map. It’s about understanding the complexity of our world, appreciating the diversity of cultures that exists across continents. And in the end, it’s about using all that knowledge to help bridge divides and bring people together.”

President Barack Obama, 2012

“God looked at everything he had made, and he was very pleased.”

GENESIS 1:31

Intent

The Geography Department encourages pupils to develop the knowledge, understanding and skills required to become informed 21^st century citizens who are capable of making sense of an increasingly complicated and fast moving world.

 Enquiry based learning  is central to lessons and pupils are encouraged to think geographically and ‘see the world through geographical eyes’. Fieldwork is another essential aspect of physical and human Geography and enables pupils to study relevant processes and features that  lie beyond the confines of a classroom. 

As Geography is a discipline that is concerned with the character of places and the distribution of features and events, mapwork is another essential aspect of the subject that pupils will use from Year 7 onwards.

We believe that Geography is characterised by a breadth of study, a range of methodologies, a willingness to synthesise work from other disciplines and an interest in the sustainable  future of the planet- in other words – it’s essential to life on Earth!

Implementation 

Year 7

Autumn

Where are we?

This is an introduction to where St. Edmund’s is on the planet! We consider maps on a variety of scales including Asia, Africa, Europe, Russia and the British Isles.

Geographic Skills

A detailed look at Ordnance Survey maps both on paper and on screen via Digimap. This introduces pupils to basic map reading skills focusing on the local area.

Spring

Weather and Climate

Pupils examine why and how weather varies across the UK, looking at air masses, differences in air pressure and extreme weather. A global perspective is introduced which   includes a case study  on Typhoon Haiyan.

Summer

The Hot Desert Ecosystem

Study of a climate type and ecosystem. Pupils will study where and   why deserts exist, as well as plant and animal adaptation.

As a contrast for homework, pupils carry out an extended study of Savanna regions, a tropical ecosystem.

Year 8

Autumn

Coasts

Pupils study the geomorphic processes of erosion, transportation and deposition and the coastal landforms that are produced such as caves, arches and stacks. A fieldtrip to Sandown on The Isle Of Wight helps reinforce the ideas and gives a chance to develop fieldwork skills. This unit of work concludes with a study of coastal management; an essential topic due to potential sea-level rise

Spring

Changing Climate

In this unit of work pupils will study the natural and human causes of climate change as well as it’s social, economic and environmental impacts. We conclude by investigating possible ways to mitigate the impacts.

Summer

Asia and Pole to Pole

We will start with an in depth study of Asia, with a focus on place knowledge followed by the various social, economic and environmental issues that affect these countries. Pupils carry out independent research in groups in order to present their findings. We finish the year investigating the worlds ecosystems, moving from pole to pole, looking at key characteristics such as location, climate, flora and fauna and human impact.

Year 9

Autumn

Global Hazards

An examination of the Earth’s structure and plate tectonics followed by the location, causes and impacts of earthquakes and volcanoes. Pupils will examine hazard mitigation and responses as wells as case studies of an earthquake and a volcano.

Tropical Rainforest Ecosystem

A detailed study of interactions within a global biome, concentrating on climate, fauna and flora. We examine the human impacts on this ecosystem such as deforestation. The unit concludes with a problem solving exercise based on the sustainability of various strategies to manage rainforests.

Spring 

Dynamic Development

In this unit pupils examine the reasons for the development gap across the world and how development aid can be used as a strategy to narrow the gap between richer and poorer countries.

Summer

Distinctive Landscapes

This is the first unit of the GCSE course and examines landscapes and the geomorphic processes that have shaped them. Case Studies include The River Tees and The Jurassic Coast.

Implementation

OCR Geography B(Geography For Enquiring Minds).

Component 01: Our natural world

Students develop an understanding and appreciation of the natural world they live in and why it looks the way it does. They study the rich diversity of landscapes and ecosystems which are changing through physical processes and human interactions.

There are four topics:

• Global hazards
• Changing climate
• Distinctive landscapes
• Sustaining ecosystems.

Fieldwork skills include understanding and applying specific geographical knowledge, understanding and skills to real-world physical geographical contexts.

Component 02: People and society

Students explores the social, cultural, political and economic forces that make places unique, and how these change over time and space, particularly the growth of urbanisation and the challenges of feeding an ever-growing population.

There are four topics:

• Urban futures
• Dynamic development
• UK in the 21st century
• Resource reliance.

Fieldwork skills include understanding and applying specific geographical knowledge, understanding and skills to real-world human geographical contexts.

Component 03: Geographical exploration

This component draws on geographical knowledge, understanding and skills that have been developed in components 01 and 02. This synoptic assessment enables students to demonstrate their understanding of the connections between the different elements of the subject.

Geographical skills:

• Cartographic
• Graphical
• Numerical
• Statistical.

This component includes a decision-making exercise, here students can become critical thinkers and develop arguments.

Impact

• Pupils who are able to join higher education or the workforce with geographical skills, independence, and the ability to work with and lead others. 
• Pupils who can appreciate and understand different cultures and how geography affects the world around us. 
• Confident pupils who are resilient and able to apply skills from across the curriculum in their learning.  
• A wider understanding and sense of space and place. 

Results for the past 3 years 

20-21 =   4+= 83.5%  5+= 71.6%  7+=50.5% 

19-20=    4+= 85.7%  5+= 63.8%  7+= 27.6% 

18-19=    4+= 62.2%  5+= 51.4%  7+= 22.5%