Geography

Subject leader

Kayleigh Scanes:
kayleigh.scanes@swale.at

Curriculum Intent

At The Turing School, the geography curriculum is designed to inspire curiosity and fascination about the world and its people, providing a foundation for understanding the complex relationships between human societies and the environment. By developing contextual knowledge, geographical skills, and disciplinary knowledge, our students gain cultural capital and respect for diversity, while also preparing for successful careers by learning about the interconnectedness of economies, societies, and environments across the world. 

Our curriculum uses fieldwork to apply geographical knowledge in real-world situations and develop understanding of physical and human processes. We believe our geography curriculum equips students with the skills, abilities, and qualities to succeed in life and make a positive impact on the world around them through becoming active global citizens.

 

Curriculum implementation 

Learning journey

KS3

KS3 focuses on locational knowledge with recurrent themes of human and physical geography. Skills are embedded into the curriculum and are progressive, building on previous skills. Literacy and numeracy and consistently incorporated within topics.

Year 7

Students explore human and physical Geography through the study of countries.

Term 1- UK Geography

Students will explore the UK’s physical Geography with a focus on rivers and coasts and the main processes that operate.

Term 2- East along the equator

This topic includes issues ranging from ecotourism in Ecuador to conflicts in the Congo.

Term 3- Brazil

Students will study Brazil and look at the causes and impacts of deforestation, ecosystems and population density.

Term 4 Australia

This focuses on physical features like the Great Barrier Reef and the formation of the 12 apostles.

Term 5 USA

This topic includes the formation and effects of tornadoes and hurricanes, the causes of earthquakes and Mexico to USA migration.

Term 6 Fieldwork

Students will investigate the new place for a wind turbine. Students will devise a hypothesis which will be tested, produce graphs to show results and reach a conclusion.

Year 8

Term 1  Africa 

Students will study Africa exploring the contrasts in the continent. 

Term 2 Antarctica

Students will explore Antarctica looking at exploration, adaptations, tourism and the effects of climate change

Term 3  India

Students will focus on the significance of monsoons, the Ganges and the Sunderbans. They will then move on to the formation of the himalayas and Poverty in India.

Term 4 China

The topic includes looking at human geography of the primary industry, TNC’s, the one child policy and the three gorges dam.

Term 5 Iceland/Russia

Students will be investigating cold environments. They will start by looking at Iceland focussing on formation of glaciers and tourism. Then will then move onto Russia looking at biomes, population density, development in the arctic and chernobyl. 

Term 6 Middle East and Fieldwork

Pupils will learn about sustainability relating to Dubai. Causes of conflict in the Middle East and the drug trade in Afghanistan.

To end the year pupils will carry out fieldwork onsite. Looking at rock type and infiltration rates. 

Year 9

Term 1 Global issues

Pupils will study a range of global issues including air pollution, plastic pollution, desertification, deforestation and crime. They will come to a conclusion which is the greatest global issues.  

Term 2 Development Gap

Pupils will look at different countries and how developed they are. They will focus on how development is measured, development indicators, barriers to development and strategies to close the development gap.

Term 3 Tectonic Hazards

Pupils will learn about earthquakes and volcanoes. Focussing on the causes, effect and responses.m By examining how  landforms are created and how they are managed.

Term 4 What shapes the land

This topic focuses on rivers and coasts. They will examine the processes of erosion, transportation and deposition. This will link to the formation of river and coastal landforms. They will finally examine how to protect the land from the risk at the coast and at rivers. 

Term 5 Weather hazards

This topic looks at the cause, effects and responses of weather hazards. Focussing on the case studies of Typhoon Haiyan and the Somerset floods

Term 6 Resource inequality 

The final topic for year 9 looks at food, water and energy. The global distribution, increasing supplies and the impact of resource insecurity. 

KS4

KS4 follows the AQA exam specification.

Paper 1: Living with the physical environment (35% of the GCSE) 

1 hour 30 minutes final exam

Section A: Natural Hazards (Tectonic hazards/weather hazards/ climate change) Section B: The Living World (Ecosystems/ rainforests / OPTION topic Hot Deserts) Section C: UK Landscapes (Physical geography of the UK/ OPTION topic: Coasts / OPTION topic: Rivers)

Paper 2: Challenges in the human environment (35% of the GCSE)

1 hour 30 minutes final exam 

Section A: Urban Issues & Challenges (London, and Rio de Janeiro) Section B: The Changing Economic World (UK and India) Section C: Resource management OPTION: Energy

Paper 3: Geographical applications (30% of GCSE) 1 hour 15 minutes final exam 

Section A: Issue Evaluation (Map/ graph and Maths Skills on any of the compulsory topics/ Pre-release document) Section B: Fieldwork (Unseen and completed)

Year 10

Term 1

Section B: (physical) The living world In this section of the paper one we examine ecosystems, tropical rainforests and hot deserts 

Term 2

Section C (physical) Physical landscapes in the UK In this section we look at the coastal and river landscapes of the UK. 

Term 3/4

Section A (physical) The challenge of natural hazards This will include looking at tectonic hazards, tropical storms, extreme weather in the UK and climate change. 

Term 5

Section A (Human) Urban issues and challenges This involves the study of global trends and patterns, the impacts of rapid urbanisation and the resulting opportunities and challenges in two contrasting cities. There will be a detailed study of a UK city and one in a LIC/NEE

Term 6

Section C: 

The challenge of resource management This section studies the increasing global demand for resources, highlighting the stark inequalities. Issues of resource provision in the UK are examined in detail. Resource insecurity in relation to food, water or energy are also covered. 

Year 11

Term 1

Paper 3- Section B: 

Fieldwork and geographical skills Students will plan and undertake fieldwork locally which comprises physical and human elements. They will then be examined in Paper 3 on the geographical processes, data collection, data presentation techniques and data evaluation undertaken.

Term 2

Section B (Human) The changing economic world This looks at the complexities of measuring development and ways of reducing the development gap. Issues of trading relationships, international aid and the role of TNCs are explored. There will be a detailed study of one named LIC or NEE and a contrasting study of economic futures in the UK and the place of the UK in the wider world. 

Term 3

 Paper 3-Section A: Issue evaluation 

Students learn about a contemporary global issue, learn how to evaluate opinions academically and then how to write about it. They consider the points of view of the stakeholders involved, make an appraisal of the advantages and disadvantages as well as the alternatives and solutions to particular problems. This section includes a question on pre-released material, which is sent by the exam board 12 weeks before the examinations.

Term 4- Revision and embedding exam technique

Homework

KS3 is set termly homework projects.

KS4 is set weekly exam questions linked to the AQA specification.

Additional websites and resources

Seneca learning

GCSE pod

Careers and Enrichment

Day/residential field trips to Kew Gardens, Science museum/ Iceland/ Italy

Geography graduates are amongst the most employable due to knowledge and transferable skills. 90% of Geography graduates have a job within 6 months.

Some of the jobs include:

 

  • cartographer.

  • commercial, residential or rural surveyor.

  • environmental manager.

  • exploration geologist.

  • facilities manager.

  • geographic information systems manager.

  • geomatics/land surveyor.

  • landscape architect

“Geography is the subject which holds the key to our future”

Michael Palin