Geography

The Key Stage 3 geography curriculum at JFS is inspiring, geographically academic, covers real-world issues and relevant for young learners at our school in the 21st Century. It aims to promote curiosity about the world and inspire wonder and passion for geographical issues. The curriculum engages learners with a range of geography processes and how these interact to create changing physical and human landscapes over time. It enriches their locational, spatial and environmental understanding.

We aim to equip our students with geography understandings, place knowledge and geography skills for the rest of their lives. Topics across KS3 are sequenced to build challenge in geographical processes & skills and widen students understanding from local/familiar/engaging places to understanding trends in wider regions across the world. Key geography ideas, knowledge and skills covered are:

• Geographical themes that are revisited throughout KS3 include global earth systems, changes in geological time, natural hazards, changes to the carbon cycle and the modern warming era, land conversion and ecosystem degradation, resource use, globalisation, demographic change, inequalities and social injustice across the development spectrum and solutions to geographical challenges.
• Students are taught to understand established geography models and theories, to critique them and apply them to real world trends.
• Students are also supported to develop their skills in geography enquiry & field work and modelled appropriate primary and secondary research skills together with analysing data, reaching conclusions and evaluating the enquiry process.
• Students practice understanding real-life geographical challenges and making geographical decisions that build understanding of geography solutions including options for the future.
• Contextual knowledge of places studied is built across key stage 3 geography including locational defining physical and human characteristics. National Curriculum required places are studied – Africa (yr 7 – Egypt, Yr 8 – Ghana, Yr 9 The Sahel), Russia (Yr 9 Resources and Yr 9 Awesome), Asia (yr 7 – Fantastic Landscapes (Israel), yr 8 population (Philippines & South Korea), Yr 9 World trade (China, India and Bangladesh), Yr 9 Resources (The Middle East).
• Geographical Skills include building students use of globes, atlases, maps (including OS maps and access to OS online ‘digimaps’), GIS and a wide range of graphicacy skills.

Our KS3 curriculum provides comprehensive, accessible and challenging resources for a wide range of all learners thus providing them with the knowledge, skills and cultural capital for future learning and employment. We support students develop memorizing/revision skills to aid their assessment preparation. We want our students to be independent thinkers and develop into informed and engaged citizens.

In line with the national curriculum for Key Stage Three geography, students are supported to understand the processes that give rise to key physical and human geographical features of the world, how they are interdependent and how they bring spatial variation and change over time. Topic build towards GCSE and A-level, our curriculum is designed for students to learn:

YEAR 7 (1 lesson per week)

TOPIC 1 Fantastic Landscapes – What is geography?

TOPIC 2 Raging Rivers – Egypt: How are river flood plains formed and how are they becoming more dangerous?

TOPIC 3 - Geography of sport - London: How can new sporting events and stadium bring urban change?

TOPIC 4- Geology - The UK: Explain the steps and processes of the rock cycle.

YEAR 8 (2 lessons per week)

TOPIC 1 - Weather & Climate change - How does climate change lead to the extinction of species, now and in the past?

TOPIC 2 - Extreme Weather – UK&USA: How are storms formed and how does this affect people?

TOPIC 3 - Amazing Ecosystems - Australia: How are Australia’s Great Barrier Reef and Daintree Rainforest being threatened?

TOPIC 4 - International Development - Ghana: What are the options for development in a ‘developing country’?

TOPIC 5 - Dramatic Coasts - Dorset: How has the human and physical geography of coasts changed over time?

TOPIC 6 - Migration and Population: How and why have populations in Asia changed?

YEAR 9 (2 lessons per week)

TOPIC 1 - World Trade - China and India: How has world trade brought benefits and challenges to 'emerging countries'?

TOPIC 2 - Resource use – Middle East and The DRC: To what extent is the current use of natural resources sustainable?

TOPIC 3 - Awesome Ice – The Arctic and Antarctic: How are ice landscapes formed and how are they changing?

TOPIC 4 - Food insecurity - The World's Dry Lands - Ethiopia: To what extent are the world’s dry lands, food insecure?

TOPIC 5 - GCSE Paper 1 - Global Geographical Issues: Hazardous Earth, Tectonics - Haiti and New Zealand: Why do the causes and impacts of tectonic activity and management of tectonic hazards vary with location?

TOPIC 6 - Urban field work and enquiry skills – How do regeneration projects impact quality of life? Primary field work and secondary research skills. Place knowledge: London St Pancras Kings Cross

Geography is an academic subject that aims to improve your understanding and appreciation of the environment in which you live. The GCSE course will help you develop many basic and specialised skills from numeracy and literacy to data analysis and decision making. You will also gain graphical and practical skills such as field work, atlas work, data and map interpretation and improve your IT skills. The Geography Department uses a wide variety of activities to help you explore geographical issues and you will often work in groups which will help you to develop your communication and teamwork skills which are important for later life. Geography combines really well with a large number of subjects across the Science and Arts divide, such as Maths, Science and History, and often complements these subjects as similar skills are used.

The A Level geography curriculum inspires our students to be engaged and understand the world around them and to think critically about world issues and broaden their knowledge of place. Students will grow as independent thinkers and as informed and engaged citizens. The Edexcel specification takes an issues-based approach enabling students to explore and evaluate contemporary geographical questions.

The type of work involved in each lesson will focus on a key geography question. We will study the geography processes, links to geography places, and linked debates and assessment points. Lessons involve discussion, group work, geography skills, writing up your processes, and support in essay and exam practice.