Geography

Geography Department Staff

For more information about the Subject curriculum, please contact: Mrs S Thomasson the Curriculum Leader

• Mrs S. Thomasson - Curriculum Leader
• Miss H. Blenkinship
• Miss E. Brown 
• Miss D. Lockhart

Michael Palin quotes “Geography students hold the key to the world’s problems“ Geography at Balshaw’s gives students the opportunity to explore the world in which they live, encouraging them to develop a sense of citizenship within a local, national and global context. Students are encouraged to develop key skills such as enquiry, problem solving, decision making, synthesising ideas, identifying issues and communicating with others. This is done through investigation of the following key concepts:

Place	Space	Scale
Interdependence	Physical and Human Processing	Environmental Interaction
Sustainable development	Cultural Understanding and Diversity

Sample Year 11 Revision Resources

Please see your Geography Teacher for the full set or Mrs Thomasson

Natural Hazards Questions and Answers

Revision Planner

Tectonic Hazards

Key Stage 3 Geography

In Years 7 & 8 students study Geography for 3 hours over the two week timetable.  Year 9 students study Geography for 2 hours per week.  All Geography teachers follow a consistent programme of study. Students study a range of human and physical topics, explore case study locations from around the world and investigate environmental, social, economic, and political issues affecting today’s society.

Year 7	Year 8	Year 9 - GCSE Ready
Map work— Physical & Human Features	Map work— Physical & Human Features	Map work— Physical & Human Features
Geo-Skills	Coasts	Development & Globalisation
World Climate & Ecosystems	Population & Urbanisation	Global Issues
The World of Food	Tectonics	Africa, a Continent of Contrast
Rivers	Glaciation (including climate change)	Issue Evaluation Energy & Development
Geographical Enquiry Skills -  Water on the Land	The Geography of Crime (including enquiry skills)	The Living World GCSE Unit 1
A Tourists World

Key Stage 4 Geography

Geography is a popular option at GCSE and all groups are taught by specialists.  Students follow the AQA specification.  This GCSE Geography course enables students to appreciate the complexity of our world and the diversity of its environments, economies and cultures.  The course builds on a number of topics studied at Key Stage 3 including tectonics, coasts, urban issues and challenges and development as well as introducing new concepts.

The Geography course is linear, students will sit all their exams at the end of the course, there is no coursework.  There are three exams:

Paper	1: Living with the physical environment	2: Challenges in the human environment	3: Geographical application
Topics	The challenge of natural hazards. (tectonic hazards, weather hazards, climate change) Physical landscapes in the UK. (coasts & glaciation) The living world. (ecosystems, tropical rainforests, hot environments)	Urban issues and challenges The changing economic world The challenge of resource management. (resource management & food)	Issue evaluation Fieldwork Geographical skills
How it is assessed	Written exam: 1 hour 30 minutes 35% of GCSE	Written exam: 1 hour 30 minutes 35% of GCSE	Written exam: 1 hour 15 minutes 30% of GCSE

 

GCSE programme of study:

Year 9	Year 10	Year 11
The living world Issues evaluation / Geographical skills	The challenge of natural hazards The changing economic world Physical landscapes in the UK (coasts & glaciation) Fieldwork	Urban issues and challenges The challenge of resource management (resource management & food) Issues evaluation

 

Geographical skills are taught across all topics and a geographical skills workbook is completed as a transition task during the summer between year 10 & 11.  All students receive a booklet of key questions and answers as they study each unit of work, they are encouraged to use these at home and with friends to regularly check their subject knowledge.