Geography

Key Stage 3

KS3 Geography is all about developing students’ sense of ‘awe and wonder’ about a variety of places, develop an understanding of key geographical processes and practice the implementation of a range of geographical skills. Our KS3 curriculum is designed to be comprehensive, engaging and diverse in order to prepare students for further study in Geography.

 

 

Subject Content

Year 7	Year 8	Year 9
Geographical skills and geography of the UK   Fantastic Places: Antarctica   Development, trade and globalisation   Fantastic Places: Mount Everest   Weather and climate	Population     Fantastic Places: Iceland   Rivers   Fantastic Places: Russia   Climate change	Hazards   Fantastic Places: Middle East   Coasts   Issue evaluation: Tropical rainforests

Fieldwork at KS3 takes place in the local area and on the school site. The aim of fieldwork at KS3 is to encourage students to consider the different stages of a geographical enquiry.

Assessments

At KS3, assessments take place at the end of each topic. Assessments come in a variety of formats so that they remain challenging but reliable in measuring the progress of all students.

Key Stage 4

Geography is a popular and well-respected GCSE at Chelmer Valley. We currently study the AQA GCSE Geography specification.

This specification enables a variety of teaching and learning approaches, making the course exciting and relevant. Students study a balanced framework of physical and human geography themes and investigates the link between them. Students will travel the world from their classroom, exploring case studies in the United Kingdom, higher income countries (HICs), newly emerging economies (NEEs) and lower income countries (LICs). Students are also encouraged to understand their role in society, by considering different viewpoints, values and attitudes.

Subject content

At GCSE Geography students will study the following topics:

Living with the physical environment	Challenges in the human environment	Geographical applications and skills
The challenge of natural hazards The living world Physical landscapes in the UK	Urban issues and challenges The changing economic world The challenge of resource management	Issue evaluation Fieldwork Geographical skills

 

The Issue evaluation is based around a resource booklet released 12 weeks prior to the exam. It will be based on a specification content and will allow students to apply knowledge and understanding and demonstrate geographical skills

Fieldwork is a vital compulsory component of the course, as students need to undertake two geographical enquiries. In an exam students will be assessed on their ability to analyse and evaluate geographical enquires and to show their understanding of fieldwork skills and techniques.

At present, we offer a 3 day residential field trip to the Peak District, where we carry out both physical and human geography investigations. The trip usually costs in the region of £150, dependent on student numbers and other external factors.

 

Assessments

Students are assessed at the end of the course by three examinations:

Paper 1: Living with the physical environment	1 hour 30 minutes	35% of GCSE
Paper 2: Challenges in the human environment	1 hour 30 minutes	35% of GCSE
Paper 3: Geographical applications	1 hour 15 minutes	30% of GCSE

Key Stage 5

Geography is a facilitating subject at A Level because it supplements a variety of other subjects extremely well. Students are expected to be aware of current geographical issues in the world around them, and demonstrate their ability to link real world examples to their studies. It is imperative that A Level students in this subject are able to “think like a geographer”.

 

 

We currently study the AQA A Level Geography specification. This specification will excite students’ minds, challenge perceptions and stimulate their investigative and analytical skills. Subject content reflects the world today, but still contains much of the traditional geography topics. Geographical skills are taught with conjunction with subject content. Students are required to carry out their own independent geographical investigation. All of this will help provide students with the knowledge, skills and enthusiasm sought by higher education and employers.

Subject content

Component 1: Physical geography	Component 2: Human geography	Component 3: Geography fieldwork investigation
Section A: Water and carbon cycles   Section B: Hot desert systems and landscapes or Coastal systems and landscapes or Glacial systems and landscapes   Section C: Hazards or Ecosystems under stress	Section A: Global systems and global governance   Section B: Changing places   Section C: Contemporary urban environments or Population and the environment or Resource security	Students complete an individual investigation which must include data collected in the field.   The individual investigation must be based on a question or issue defined and developed by the student relating to any part of the specification content.

 

All students are required to undertake fieldwork in relation to processes in both physical and human geography. Students must undertake four days of fieldwork during their A-level course. Students are required to undertake an independent investigation. They may incorporate field data and/or evidence from field investigations collected individually or in groups. What is important is that students work on their own on contextualising, analysing and reporting of their work to produce an independent investigation with an individual title that demonstrates required fieldwork knowledge, skills and understanding.

At present, we offer students the opportunity to attend a residential field trip at a Field Studies Council fieldwork centre in a location such as Devon, Wales, or the Lake District. The trip usually is 4 to 5 days in which students complete their required fieldwork and receive specialist tuition on geographical skills and fieldwork techniques at the centre. The trip usually costs in the region of £400, dependent on location, student numbers and other external factors.

Assessments

Students are assessed at the end of the course by:

Paper 1: Physical geography	2 hour 30 minutes	40% of A Level
Paper 2: Human geography	2 hour 30 minutes	40% of A Level
Non Exam Assessment: Geography fieldwork investigation	3,000 – 4,000 words, submitted before exams, marked by teachers, moderated by AQA	20% of A Level

 

Iceland 2024

Year 10 and 11 have been to Iceland in October half term and it was a huge success. Five action packed days from Reykjavík city centre, to exploring waterfalls and climbing over the Icelandic Glacier of Vatnajökull. Pupils were able to eat bread baked by geothermal energy and boiled eggs in the ground. Pupils were able to visit the natural plunge pools with temperatures over 40 degrees! We also were lucky enough to see the Icelandic Fjords and dip into the worlds coldest natural plunge pool.