Geography

Faculty Introduction:

Through our rich and varied geographical journey we hope that as many students as possible continue their study of Geography into Key Stages 4 and 5.

We will explore culture, be creative and inspire curiosity through our studies of the world, its landforms and its people. Our curriculum is broad, balanced and inclusive paving the way for students to be confident in their own voice as well as understanding the voices of others.

Our geography curriculum provides opportunities for students to further their experiences of the world through extra and super curricular activities, providing them with character and currency alongside developing their leadership and employability skills.

By teaching through a de-colonising and anti-racist lens we want students to understand their world and not only relate to their local community but to our national and global communities. Students will be exposed to more than the single story and understand the danger of only seeing one view of a location.

Through our golden threads of sustainability, systems and processes, development, interdependence, inequality, globalisation, biodiversity and resilience students will be exposed to a rich, diverse and challenging curriculum which underpins their knowledge of other areas of the curriculum. After all, without Geography you are nowhere.

We aim to prepare students for the world of tomorrow, creating global citizens who feel empowered to live sustainably and protect the future as well as to dream big and aspire to travel and discover our beautiful planet.

Our key objectives

Our three key objectives are:

1. To help students to develop their geographical knowledge and understanding.

2. To introduce students to geographical enquiry and develop problem-solving and investigative skills.

3. To help students develop a sense of identity through learning about the UK and other countries and the relationships between them which will help them to develop their own informed opinions and attitudes.

Year 7

Topics / Modules to be covered:

Becoming a geographer
The Almighty Dollar
Wicked Weather
Hot Deserts
Vicious Volcanoes
Local area fieldwork based on the ‘healthy streets’ investigation

We start Year 7 with a topic designed to equip our geographers with the necessary basic skills to be able to approach the rest of our curriculum. We begin our fieldwork journey early in Year 7 through the study of biodiversity on our school site.

Students will study the text ‘Almighty Dollar’ by Dharshini David to help them to understand globalisation and to build on their locational knowledge. Students will follow the story of the dollar around the world.

Students will then study three physical geography units ‘Wicked Weather’, ‘Hot Deserts’ and ‘Vicious Volcanoes’. Whilst they are physical geography units, students will also develop their knowledge of physical processes on humans, and of humans on the physical landscape.

Throughout Year 7 students will study a range of locations including; The UK, China, the Sahara Desert, the DRC, Iceland and Nigeria.

Assessment:

At the end of each unit of work, students will complete an assessment. There are also two key assessment points in Year 7 where students will sit assessments which combine their units of study.

Fieldwork:

Becoming a geographer: Biodiversity Study
Wicked Weather – Microclimate Survey
Hot deserts – Investigating weathering
Local area fieldwork

Homework:

Homework is set every other week, and students are usually given one week to complete it. It is marked in agreement with the school’s feedback policy. Homework tasks include spellings, additional reading and application of skills. In addition, some of the topic areas provide opportunities for longer homework projects to be set and often involves making models or completing practical activities over the space of the half term.

Enhancement & Enrichment Activities:

British Council school partnership activities with our overseas partner schools in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Taiwan
Antarctic Flags Project with the UK Polar Network
Local fieldwork

Year 8

Topics / Modules to be covered:

(2024-2025 only) Vicious Volcanoes
Should we be worried about climate change?
Brazil
Frozen Planet
Our Rumbling Planet

Our Year 8 curriculum builds on the knowledge and skills studied in Year 7 and introduces our students to a range of new concepts such as climate change, decolonisation and the Anthropocene.

From journeying our way through the Amazon Rainforest during our Brazil topic to shivering with penguins, students will once again study a wide range of locations around the world including; Brazil, Antarctica, Svalbard, Pakistan, Tuvalu, Japan and Haiti.

They will build on their knowledge of processes, for example their understanding of plate tectonics through the study of earthquakes and tsunamis. Year 8 also offers students the opportunity to build on their cross-curricular knowledge through the study of climate change.

Studying contrasting biomes to those studied in Year 7, will give Year 8 the opportunity to develop their understanding on physical and human processes as students will study the tropical rainforests, tundra and taiga.

Assessment:

At the end of each unit of work, students will complete an assessment. There are also two key assessment points in Year 8 where students will sit assessments which combine their units of study.

Fieldwork:

Should we be worried about climate change: Lichen surveys
Brazil: Carbon content in trees

Homework:

Enrichment Activities:

Trip to the living rainforest
British Council school partnership activities with our overseas partner schools in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Taiwan
Antarctic Flags Project with the UK Polar Network
Local fieldwork
Online Q&A with residents of the Solomon Islands
Careers talks with UK Polar Network on polar careers

Year 9

Topics / Modules to be covered:

Development
Incredible Cities
Conflict
Rivers: Why does Northampton flood?
Oceans under threat

Students in Year 9 have the opportunity to study a range of contemporary geographical issues in preparation for further study of geography at GCSE and A Level.

Through the study of ‘development’ and ‘incredible cities’ students will strengthen their understanding of the building blocks of human geography. We critically examine development indicators and data to help us to understand whether or not we can fully understand the story of a country, or whether we are in danger of telling the single story. Students will also further examine the impacts of colonisation.

Students will also complete a local area study of Northampton, helping them to understand why our town is at risk of flooding and what can be done about it, testing their problem-solving and decision-making skills.

In Year 9 students will further develop their understanding of place and their locational knowledge through the study of a range of locations including: The DRC, Dubai, London, Bolivia, Russia and our home town of Northampton.

Assessment:

At the end of each unit of work, students will complete an assessment. There are also two key assessment points in Year 8 where students will sit assessments which combine their units of study.

Fieldwork:

Incredible cities: Sustainability surveys
Rivers: Infiltration surveys
Ocean threats: Investigating plastic pollution on the school site.

Homework:

Enhancement & Enrichment Activities:

British Council school partnership activities with our overseas partner schools in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Taiwan
Antarctic Flags Project with the UK Polar Network
Local fieldwork and possible trip to the Natural History Museum
Sky Ocean Rescue plastic project
Working with Northampton University to understand flooding.

KS4 - Year 10 and Year 11

Geography is a flexible subject about the real world outside the classroom. It integrates many other subject areas such as Biology, Sociology, Economics, History, English, Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Information Technology. Geography assists the development of many job relevant skills and it is also a "living" subject happening everywhere, and a successful medium for investigating the past, present and future. Geography can lead to a wide and varied number of careers and broaden your understanding of the world, its environments and its peoples.

Topics / Modules to be covered:

At GCSE students follow the Eduqas B Specification. The course consists of the following units:

Theme 1: Changing places, changing economies

This unit covers: Development and globalisation, Urban and Rural Change and Urbanisation in contrasting global cities.

Theme 2: Changing Environments

This unit covers: Rivers, weather and climate, coasts and climate change.

Theme 3: Environmental Challenges

This unit covers: Ecosystems, water resources and desertification.

Units covered in Year 10 (2024-2025)

Ecosystems
Development
Weather and Climate
Fieldwork
Water

Units covered in Year 11 (2024-2025

Fieldwork
Development
Urbanisation in contrasting global cities
Coasts
Climate Change
Desertification

Units covered in Year 11 (2025-2026)

Urban and Rural
Fieldwork
Urbanisation in contrasting global cities
Coasts
Climate change
Desertification

Assessment:

Paper 1: Investigating Geographical Issues (1 hour 45 minutes).
Paper 2: Problem Solving Geography (1 hour 30 minutes)
Paper 3: Applied fieldwork enquiry (1 hour 30 minutes)

Homework:

Homework is set twice a week and it is marked in agreement with the school’s feedback policy. It will often involve completion of past exam questions and papers. In addition, throughout both years, but particularly in Year 11, students will be given specific revision tasks.

Enhancement & Enrichment Activities:

Students are required to attend two field trips as an essential part of the course, in particular to their Component 3 exam. We organise a human geography and physical geography field work trip, which usually take place in the summer term of year 10. The trips are subject to change as the focus is set by the exam board every year, however, most recently we have visited Carding Mill Valley in Shropshire and Northampton Town Centre.

Year 12 and Year 13 (A Level)

Topics / Modules to be covered:

Our students follow the AQA Specification, which builds on previous experience but also has a progressive and contemporary edge that builds students’ knowledge and understanding whilst also providing them with essential skills regardless of their future pathways.

The course consists of the following units:

Year 12

Water and carbon cycles
Coastal environments
Population and the environment
Changing places

Students will also begin their preparation for their NEA coursework. Students will then attend four days of fieldwork in a variety of locations including Stratford and Brick Lane in London, and Walton on the Naze. During the NEA process students will research and write their own fieldwork investigation based on an area of interest within the specification.

Year 13

Global systems and global governance.
Hazards

In all our Geography courses there is a strong emphasis on fieldwork, both close to home and further afield. We feel that fieldwork opportunities are an essential part of a student’s geographical education.

Assessment:

Paper 1: Physical Geography (2 hours 30 min exam)
Paper 2: Human Geography (2 hours 30 min exam)
NEA fieldwork investigation

Homework:

Homework is set once a week by each teacher and it is marked in agreement with the school’s feedback policy. It will often involve completion of past exam questions and papers. In addition, revision tasks will also be set.

Enhancement & Enrichment Activities:

RGS student conferences on A Level topics
Workshops with the University of Northampton
The Geological Society Competition