Geography
Overview
‘Geography illustrates the past, illuminates the present and prepares us for the future’ (Michael Palin).
At Forge Valley we believe that the role of geography is to engage and enthuse young people about the dynamic world in which they live, fostering this knowledge and understanding so that they can become truly global citizens.
The curriculum is designed to build on their KS2 knowledge and skills, extending their understanding and applying this to both familiar and entirely new concepts. Our core concepts are sustainability, globalisation, place, scale and processes. The curriculum model asks pupils to examine both the physical and human world through a range of diverse topics.
It is our ambition that pupils develop an enquiring mind through the study of topics and that through this, they are able to make synoptic links with the ‘real world’ through news items and global issues that they are exposed to outside of lessons. Through the study of geography we aim to build on young people’s own experiences, helping them to formulate questions, develop their intellectual skills and find answers to issues affecting their lives. More than this, it ensures that they appreciate the complexity of attitudes and values which shape the way we use and misuse the environment.
Field work is an essential part of study aiming to ‘bring geography to life’ further enabling pupils to make links between work studied in the classroom and the geography that surrounds them each day.
Ultimately our ambition is to develop skills, understanding, knowledge and enquiring minds so that our pupils understand the world in which we live and are therefore armed to take a role and responsibility for its future. Our students will become the decision makers of the future. We aim for them to be able to do that to sustainably safeguard themselves, their families, their communities and the generations to come.
Key Stage 3 Curriculum Content
Mastery Learning
All pupils have access to geography mastery work, covering themes studied in class during each unit.. The purpose of this is to allow pupils the opportunity to consolidate and develop their knowledge at home.
All pupils will have formative and on-going assessments based on this knowledge during lessons. This will allow teachers to monitor levels of understanding and clarify any mis-conceptions.
KS3 Units studied (in order):
Y7
- Fantastic Places
- Global Climate Zones
- Ecosystems
- Investigating Ghana
- Geography of the UK
Y8
- Tectonic Hazards
- Investigating China
- Climate Crisis
- Rivers and Flooding
Y9
- Dynamic Populations
- Geography of Conflict
- Climate Crisis (next year Climatic Hazards)
- Frozen Planet
Geographical Skills are integrated and embedded within each unit
Mastery
Key Stage 4 Curriculum Content
At KS4, pupils follow the OCR Geography A specification. The course builds on the geographical understanding and knowledge gained at key stage 3 and further develops their geographical skills. The course encourages learners to ‘think like geographers’ through the study of geographical themes applied within the context of the UK and the wider world. This structure allows learners to draw synoptic links between the different topics that they study.
Units studied (in order):
- Landscapes of the UK
- Ecosystems of the Planet
- People of the UK
- UK Environmental Challenges
- People of the Planet
- Environmental Threats to our Planet
Geographical Skills are integrated and embedded within each unit.
Homework will be given weekly and will be in the form of exam style questions, which will aid pupils in applying and mastering their knowledge and understand of learning from lessons.
Pupils should also check out the ‘Virtual Classroom’ below to gain access to past exam papers and other materials to support their learning and progress.