Geography
Geography deals with concepts that are vital to an understanding of today’s world. It is the only subject that explores the relationship between people and their physical environment, which is essential if our increasingly interconnected and interdependent world is to be understood. It is also an excellent bridge between Art and Science subjects and provides a useful support for both. Many boys like the fact that Geography complements many other subjects and allows for a degree of individualism in answers to examination questions. It also provides the analytical, numerical, literacy and ICT skills that employees look for and this is why geographers work in almost every field of employment.
Aims and Objectives
Aims
- To encourage an understanding of the diversity of natural landscapes.
- To instil a sense of place and an understanding of spatial distributions.
- To investigate the interaction between physical and human environments.
Objectives
- To examine a range of geographical themes and issues.
- To develop the skills of literacy, numeracy and data presentation within a geographical context.
- To provide pupils with an appreciation and understanding of the human and physical environments within which they live.
- To encourage pupils to critically examine a wide range of social, political, economic and environmental issues.
- To teach pupils to collect information from a variety of sources, evaluate that data and draw conclusions from it.
- To develop the ability to make critical and justified points of view whilst accepting that there may be other viewpoints that could be valid.
- To encourage a sympathetic understanding of the problems of other people and societies.
Organisation
There are five teachers in the department, each of whom has a specialist classrooms equipped with a data projector, interactive Smartboard and speakers.
Scheme of Work:
Year 7
This course is designed to be a grounding in geographical concepts and issues
and takes account of the wide range of geographical ability and awareness that the boys have when they enter the school. The course is focused on a local and national scale and introduces the following topics: Map Work, Exploring Britain, Settlement, Shopping, Rivers and Football. Skills, particularly related to the use of maps and graphs form a major part of the work.
Year 8
At this level the course becomes more international in its approach and boys are introduced to a greater range of sources of data, together with more complex skills. The course consists of a range of Human and Physical Geography (Coasts, Resources, Ecosystems, Weather and Crime) together with a country study of Brazil.
Year 9
This course includes a range of topics to provide a foundation for those studied at GCSE. Once again it takes into account the wide range of geographical skills and interest that have been acquired at the feeder prep schools. Country studies are seen as being an integral part of this course, together with the opportunity to develop more sophisticated graphical and analytical skills. Topics covered are: Population, Earthquakes and Volcanoes, Urban Change and Development, together with a study of China.
Year 10
This year is spent working towards the first of the two exam papers. Topics studied include Coasts, Rivers, Glaciation, Population, Settlement, Weather & Climate and Ecosystems. Coursework is introduced post exams. Boys are given guidance sheets on a range of possible topics and then complete a proposal form. At this point the suitability of their investigation can be assessed. The summer holiday is used for data collection and boys return in September with their data
Year 11
Throughout the Autumn Term all homework time is used for the completion of the coursework project and a completed first draft is submitted at Christmas. This is assessed by the class teacher and returned for modification prior to the final submission in mid February. The remaining core topics (Agriculture and Industry) are also studied, together with Managing Hazards and Managing Tourism for the second exam paper.
Year 12
This course is comprised of three units of study, which are examined at the end of the Lower Sixth year. The first is entitled Physical Environments and consists of three sections: Rivers, Coasts and Earth Systems. The second unit deals with Human Environments and also consists of three sections: Population characteristics, Settlement patterns and Population movements. The third unit relates to fieldwork and it is called Applied Geographical Skills. Fieldwork investigations, in both the local area and during a field trip to Devon are completed during the year and short summaries of these enquiries are written for internal assessment and then used as preparation for the exam. The examination of all the units is via a structured paper.
Year 13
In the second year, the emphasis changes from breadth to depth of study. A broadening range of interrelationships is established, culminating in the synoptic paper, which requires a knowledge and understanding of the connections between all parts of the course. Once again, the course is divided into three units. The first is entitled Physical Systems, Processes and Patterns and consists of two parts. Glacial Systems studies both glacial and periglacial landforms and allows case studies of areas such as Iceland, the Swiss Alps and Alaska. Ecosystems includes a comparison between a grassland and forest biome and also deals with soil formation processes. The second unit is Human Systems, Processes and Patterns. This focuses on Economic Systems and Development Processes. These two sections of the course interrelate closely and deal with topical issues such as globalisation, NICs, transnational corporations, regional inequalities and the debt crisis. The first two units are examined using semi-structured essay questions and there is a choice of one essay from two. The final module is the Synoptic Unit. There are two sections in the exam. The first consists of an exercise where you draw together and examine a range of text, maps, data and other illustrative material. The second section is an essay that questions how the physical environment has influenced human activity or how human actions modify physical environments. A range of case studies is studied, which relate to all aspects of the course, including AS units.
Public Examinations:
We follow the Edexcel A specification at GCSE, AS and A2 levels.
Overseas Expeditions:
Boys are able to sign up for voluntary expeditions to Iceland, New York, Switzerland and China. The trips are designed to inspire geographical interest and aid understanding of key elements of the course. There are pictures from these excursions that can be found within the news section of the website.
Undergraduate Study:
Typically, some half of our Upper Sixth geographers have chosen to continue with the subject to degree level. Employers like Geography graduates because they are analytical, computer literate, systematic and aware of the interrelationships within an issue. Together with the obvious careers that stem directly from the subject itself, such as surveying and meteorology, a large number of Geography graduates go on to law, accountancy, advertising and journalism.
