Geography

Autumn term 1: Economic Activity

Enquiry question: Why did Nissan locate in the UK?

Assessment

How does tourism lead to an increase in tertiary sector jobs? Essay response

End of unit summative assessment

Autumn Term 2 and Spring Term 1: Development

Enquiry Question Why are there people living in poverty?

Key assessed task 1: Decision making exercise: How can countries boost development?

Key assessed task 2: Extended writing answer- IS the world getting better?

End of unit summative assessment

Spring 2 Term and Summer 1 Term: Rivers, coasts, and glaciers

Enquiry question: How has water shaped the UK?

Assessments

• Key assessed tasks: Diagram and annotation of erosional processes of the creation of a waterfall and U-shaped valley
• End of unit summative assessment

Summer 2: Energy

Enquiry question: Where does the world get its power from?

Assessments

• Choropleth map creation- global energy sources and use variations
• End of year summative assessment

Year 9 Autumn Term 1: Globalisation

Enquiry question: Who benefits from increased connections around the world?

Assessments

• Key Assessed Task- To build or not to build? Decision making task; TNC factory build in a developing country essay response
• End of unit summative assessment

Autumn Term 2: The Climate Crisis

Enquiry question: Do we have 9 years to stop irreversible climate change?

Assessments

• Key Assessed task: Can trees fix the climate crisis? Formal letter to the government detailing influence of trees on carbon taxes/ the climate.
• End of unit summative assessment

Spring Term 1: Geographies of Conflict

Enquiry question: Does geography increase or decrease the likelihood of conflict? 

Assessments

• Extended writing essay style: How has geography enabled the USA to be more powerful than Russia?
• End of unit summative assessment

Spring Term 2: Tectonics

Enquiry question: Can we ever know enough about earthquakes and volcanoes to live safely?

Assessments

• Decision making exercise- Naples evacuation plan.
• End of unit summative assessment

Summer Term 1: Urbanisation

Enquiry Question: Why do most people around the world live in urban areas?

Assessments

• GIS mapping urban land use change in London
• End of unit summative assessment

Summer Term 2: The Middle East

Enquiry question: Why is the Middle East an important world region?

• Key Assessed Task: Extended writing Israel and Palestine empathy task
• End of Year Summative Assessment

At Key Stage 4 we follow the Edexcel B geography certification. We believe this certification offers a broad, enquiry-based specification, with a clear and coherent structure which we have been able to apply to the continuous progression of our 5-year geography curriculum map. The content is divided into 3 papers which the boys are individually assessed on. Specification objectives from within this content have been sequenced to make the most curriculum sense to not only enable our boys to make sense of the course as clearly as possible but to also develop a deeper understanding of geography.

What you will study:

Paper 1

Global Geographical issues – Explaining atmospheric and tectonic hazards and assessing their impact. Measuring development, global inequality and a study of India How cities change over time including a study of a mega city.

Content overview
● Topic 1: Hazardous Earth
● Topic 2: Development dynamics
● Topic 3: Challenges of an urbanising world

Paper 2

UK Geographical Issues -A study of both coastal and river landscapes. Settlement change within the UK a study of a major UK city. Geographical investigations, an urban study and a coastal study.

Content overview
● Topic 4: The UK’s evolving physical landscape – including sub-topics 4A: Coastal change
and conflict and 4B: River processes and pressures.
● Topic 5: The UK’s evolving human landscape – including a Case Study – Dynamic UK
cities.
● Topic 6: Geographical investigations – including one physical fieldwork investigation and
one human fieldwork investigation linked to Topics 4 and

Paper 3

Environmental Issues – A look at the relationship between humans and ecosystems.  Understanding the rainforest and Taiga, the threats to it and how to protect it. How we can reduce demand for energy resources and how different interest groups feel about this.

Content overview
● Topic 7: People and the biosphere
● Topic 8: Forests under threat
● Topic 9: Consuming energy resources

Assessment

The course is assessed through three 1.5-hour examination papers in Year 11. Paper 1 and paper 2 are worth 37.5% and paper 3 the remaining 25%. Each paper contains a mixture of multi choice, short response and longer evaluation questions.

Why choose GCSE geography?

Choosing the discipline of geography at GCSE will give you the opportunity to
understand more about the world, the challenges it faces and their place within it. Our GCSE course will deepen understanding of geographical processes, illuminate the impact of change and of complex people-environment interactions, highlight the dynamic links and
interrelationships between places and environments at different scales, and develop
your competence in using a wide range of geographical investigative skills and
approaches. Geography enables young people to become globally and environmentally
informed and thoughtful, enquiring citizens.

The aims and objectives of this qualification are to enable you to build on your Key
Stage 3 knowledge and skills to:

• develop and extend your 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 interrelationship between geographical
  phenomena at different scales and in different contexts (think like a geographer)
  ● develop and extend your competence in a range of skills, including those used in
  fieldwork, in using maps and Geographical Information Systems (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).

(Reference Edexcel B geography specification)

Geographical skills
The skills learnt in geography cover a broad spectrum of disciplines including maths, English, science, art, economics, and statistics. Not only will the content covered give you a better understanding of your place in the world but the graphical, numerical, cartographic, data interpretation, investigative and analytical skills will equip you to understand more and go further in life. It is for this reason that geography is consistently seen as an extremely desirable subject to places of higher education such as colleges, university and within apprenticeships.

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