Geography
The Geography department endeavours to provide a broad understanding of the fundamental concepts and skills underpinning the vast discipline of Geography in order to develop inquisitive young people who can understand and ask questions about our human and physical environment. We want to develop global, informed citizens who know about our world and the issues facing it; those who understand these complex issues and can form their own opinions on them. We believe a key part of Geography is enquiry-based learning (including fieldwork) and so aim to include this throughout the three Key Stages. We want to develop our students to feel confident as Geographers and have a ‘growth mindset’.
Our aim is that if students never take the subject beyond Key Stage 3, they will still have the geographical skills and understanding to be informed citizens and will be able to use the transferable skills they have learnt in other subjects.
Key Stage 5
Students who opt to take A Level Geography at Key Stage 5 follow the OCR A Level Geography specification. Students take the full A Level qualification with terminal exams at the end of Year 13.
The Year 12 course includes: Landscape systems, which includes a day’s fieldwork currently visiting Easedale Tarn; Earth’s life support systems, which includes a day’s fieldwork currently to Buttermere; Change Spaces; Making Places (there are two fieldwork days as part of this topic); Trade in the contemporary world and Powers and Borders. After Christmas in Year 12, students will start working on their independent investigation which is a piece of Non-Examined Assessment worth 20% of their final grade.
In Year 13, students study two topics in great detail: Exploring Oceans and Disease Dilemma, as well as completing their independent investigation. By the end of the course they develop a range of geographical skills, both practical and theoretical, that can take them onto the next stage of their education, training or employment.
Further information about the A Level Geography specification can be found using the following link: