How do we delivery the Geography curriculum?

The Geography curriculum at Key Stage 3 builds skill and knowledge foundations that are then developed further at Key Stage 4 and 5 in order to prepare students for academic success.

Year 7: Student experiences of Geography at primary school are wide and varied. Consequently, the Year 7 curriculum is structured initially with the first taught unit to solidify and provide the essential key map skills that are then applied to different topics throughout the rest of the year including ‘River Landscapes’. The first topic taught ‘What is a Geographer?’ requires students to understand the 3 cornerstones of geography- physical, human and environmental ( Social, Economic and Environmental) which are then continually referred to and built upon throughout the KS3, 4&5 topics. Students are also taught about concepts at a range of scales, ranging from a local area (school grounds) enquiry to global scale concepts of Development

Year 8: This builds on the map skills learnt in Year 7 through ‘Coastal Landscapes’ as well as looking at real world examples at a variety of scales from the local and regional (European) in Population & Migration to the global during the Tectonic Hazards.

Year 9: Topics again incorporate map skills in ‘Energy’ topic using global and local scale examples and development of global and local sustainability responsibilities in ‘Climate Change’ and ‘Life in a Newly Emerging Economy’.

Year 10 & 11: Paper 1: Living with the Physical Environment; Paper 2: Challenges in the Human Environment

Year 11: Paper 3: Evaluation (released 12 weeks before the exam in mid-March), requiring

• understanding of pre-release material and Fieldwork (planning, data collection, analysis and application of fieldwork skills in two contrasting locations)
• physical geography & human geography – Impact of Tourism on the environment at Walton-on-Naze & impact of hard engineering (groynes) on the beach at Walton-on-Naze

Year 12: Migration, Hazards & Changing Spaces: Making Places. Exploration of a wide variety of theories and application to examples at a variety of scales (local, national, regional and international).

Year 13: Independent investigation, where students are required to plan, collect data, present, analyse, conclude and evaluate. Continual exploration and evaluation of a wide range of theories in Climate Change topic. Development and evaluation of synoptic links between topics and Case Studies learnt.

Curriculum Lead - Alex Hall