Geography

Subject lead: M Fowler

Throughout KS3, the Weavers Geography Curriculum endeavours to provide pupils with a foundation across both physical and human geography. We begin by building on the foundations set at KS2 whilst understanding pupils have varying geographical experience. Each year throughout KS3, pupils experience a range of geographical themes; while studying a continent or region of the world and developing their fieldwork skills. Pupils build on key knowledge and skills already acquired and revisit these in future topics through a different contextual lens. We endeavour to empower our geographers for the demands of their next step at GCSE and A-Level. We aim to inspire pupil’s curiosity and passion about Geography and empower them to form their own opinions about global issues.

Key Stage 3:

Year 7: By the end of the year… students will be able to identify human and physical features, locate and name oceans and continents, locate places using latitude and longitude co-ordinates, ask geographical questions, conduct geographical enquiries, make geographical decisions and use geographical data. Students should be able to use OS maps; to interpret grid references, height and direction. To explore the geography of the UK and the importance of natural resources. To have an understanding of weather and climate and explore the geography of Africa. To have an opportunity to experience local fieldwork.

Year 8: By the end of the year… students will be able to further develop skills and knowledge acquired from year 7. By the end of year 8 students will be able to consider the issues surrounding climate change and how polar regions are impacted. To understand key features of the coast and identify patterns of population distribution. To explore the geography of Asia. To have an opportunity to experience local fieldwork.

Year 9: By the end of the year… Continued and further development of skills and knowledge from year 8. By the end of year 9 students will be able to explore the geography of The Middle East. To consider the issues surrounding globalisation and sustainability. To have an understanding of our violent planet, including the role of earthquakes, volcanoes and tropical storms.

Key Stage 4:

Exam board – AQA

Year 10: By the end of the year… Continued and further development of skills and knowledge from year 9. To understand causes and effects of climate change. To identify some of the UK’s diverse physical landscapes. To understand climate systems and their influence on the world’s biomes. To know how and why these environments are being threatened, how they are being sustainably managed and why they are important. To know that the UK’s landscapes are shaped by a range of physical processes. To identify the global pattern of urban change and the factors that affect the rate of urbanisation.

Year 11: By the end of the year… Continued and further development of skills and knowledge from year 10. To know the features of sustainable urban living. To identify the global variations in economic development and quality of life using a range of economic and social measures. To know the impact of aid and economic development on the environment and quality of life. To identify and explain changes to the UK’s economy over time and the UK’s place within the wider world. To know that food, water and energy are fundamental to human development and that global inequalities exist in the supply and consumption of resources. To identify different strategies that can be used to increase resource supply. The issues evaluation will provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate geographical skills and applied knowledge and understanding by looking at a particular issue(s) derived from the specification using secondary sources. A resource booklet will be available twelve weeks before the date of the exam so that students can work through the resources, enabling them to become familiar with the material.

Key Stage 5:

Exam board – AQA

Physical Geography – Paper 1 35% final grade

Water and carbon cycles
This section focuses on the major stores of water and carbon at or near the Earth’s surface and the dynamic cyclical relationships associated with them. These are major elements in the natural environment and understanding them is fundamental to many aspects of physical geography.

Coastal systems and landscapes
This section focuses on coastal zones, which are dynamic environments in which landscapes develop by the interaction of winds, waves, currents and terrestrial and marine sediments. The operation and outcomes of fundamental geomorphological processes and their association with distinctive landscapes are readily observable.

Hazards
This section focuses on the lithosphere and the atmosphere, which intermittently but regularly present natural hazards to human populations, often in dramatic and sometimes catastrophic fashion. By exploring the origin and nature of these hazards and the various ways in which people respond to them, students are able to engage with many dimensions of the relationships between people and the environments they occupy. Study of this section offers the opportunity to exercise and develop observation skills, measurement and geospatial mapping skills, together with data manipulation and statistical skills, including those associated with and arising from fieldwork.

Human Geography – Paper 2 35% final grade

Global systems and global governance
This section focuses on globalisation – the economic, political and social changes associated with technological and other driving forces which have been a key feature of global economy and society in recent decades.

Changing places
This section focuses on people’s engagement with places, their experience of them and the qualities they ascribe to them, all of which are of fundamental importance in their lives. Students acknowledge this importance and engage with how places are known and experienced, how their character is appreciated, the factors and processes which impact upon places and how they change and develop over time. Through developing this knowledge, students will gain understanding of the way in which their own lives and those of others are affected by continuity and change in the nature of places which are of fundamental importance in their lives.

Population and the environment
This section explores the relationships between key aspects of physical geography and population numbers, population health and well-being, levels of economic development and the role and impact of the natural environment. Engaging with these themes at different scales fosters opportunities for students to contemplate the reciprocating relationships between the physical environment and human populations and the relationships between people in their local, national and international communities.

Fieldwork investigation 30% final grade

Students are required to undertake an independent investigation. This must incorporate collecting primary data. The fieldwork undertaken as part of the individual investigation may be based on either human or physical aspects of geography, or a combination of both. They may incorporate field data and/or evidence from field investigations collected individually or in groups. Students are expected to submit a written report which is 3,000–4,000 words in length.

Geography Curriculum Map
Subject Resources