Geography

Introduction

Geography at Waingels is a popular & successful subject with a dynamic & motivated department. Our goal is to help students understand the world in which they live by encouraging them to ask questions & investigate real-life situations. Students at Waingels follow a diverse curriculum with a fascinating range of topics across the key stages. We follow the OCR B GCSE specification at Key Stage 4 & the OCR 2 year A-level course at Key Stage 5. 

To stay up-to-date with news in the department as well as interesting geographical articles & news stories follow us on Twitter @waingelsgeog.

 

Years 7, 8 and 9

Students in Year 7 & 8 have five lessons over a fortnight covering a series of topics which build on their learning at primary school. We aim for all students to gain a strong foundation in fundamental geographical knowledge & skills to assist them into Year 9 & beyond. Some of the topics studied include Geography of My Stuff, Rivers & Coasts, Ecosystems, Population & Migration and Weather & Climate. Students in Year 7 & 8 have a number of assessed pieces of work throughout the year in different formats. These range from short exam style tests to independent research projects.

Students in Year 9 have four lessons over a fortnight. They cover a series of topics developed to give students a taster of those that are studied in more detail in the GCSE course. Some of these include Plate Tectonics, Development, Power & Politics, Tourism and Geography of Human Health. As students’ progress towards the summer term there is an increasing emphasis on exam technique within lessons. This is to ensure students have developed the fundamental skills needed to approach the examination format of the GCSE course. Students in Year 9 are assessed in the same way as students in Year 7 & 8.

 

Years 10 & 11

Students in Key Stage 4 have 5 lessons a fortnight.

Geography GCSE – OCR B: Geography for Enquiring Minds

This course consists of 3 externally assessed units. Paper One focuses on some of the core physical geography topics such as coasts, ecosystems and landscapes, whilst also investigating some of the most important issues of our age such as climate change. Paper Two investigates some of the current issues facing people and society today such as changes within UK society, resource depletion, urban issues and global development. Paper Three, Geographical Exploration, is a skill-based paper in which students must demonstrate competent ability on using & manipulating data. They will also be expected to analyse information to make informed decisions about a topical situation. Throughout all three papers, students will also be assessed on their fieldwork skills that they gain whilst completing 2 days of fieldwork in Year 10 in a physical & urban environment. For a more detailed review of the topics please refer to the Waingels Curriculum Overview webpage for Geography here.

 

Sixth Form

Students in Year 12 & 13 have between 9 and 10 lessons a fortnight.

OCR Geography A-Level

Students will be assessed through 4 units. Three of these are assessed through an exam and one is internally assessed through coursework. The three units cover a range of human and physical topics that build on our geographical understanding of the world. These range from understanding the core processes along our coastlines, to the cycles that regulate our life on the planet including carbon and water. We study the importance of place in geography and how this can be impacted by a range of factors and the causes and patterns of modern-day global migration. These topics are consolidated in our Geographical Debates unit where we study two topics in depth, whilst making synoptic links to previous learning. Topics studied depend on teacher specialism but have included Disease, Climate Change and Hazardous Earth in the past. The internally assessed coursework is started in the spring term of Year 12 and students will have the opportunity to learn fieldwork techniques in a range of physical and urban environments. In previous years fieldtrips have included Barcelona, Newhaven and Bracknell. Students will then create their individual titles and collect their data independently over the summer, returning to complete their coursework by Christmas of Year 13.

 

Enrichment and Enhancement

We suggest and welcome all students and parents to subscribe to the Waingels Geography Twitter which features regular tweets from the exam board, BBC news stories, Greenpeace & other relevant organisations. Furthermore, there are often programmes on television & films that link directly to the topics studied, e.g. the many BBC Earth programmes and wildlife documentaries, as well as a wealth of documentaries on Netflix that have a geographical focus.

Ultimately Geography is best studied outside in the field. At Waingels we ensure that students have a number of opportunities to experience learning in the field or to explore places beyond their local environment. In Year 7 we aim to take students to a River environment and in Year 9 we aim to take students to the Natural History Museum to explore the Earth Gallery with a focus on plate tectonics. At GCSE and A-Level students undertake fieldwork in locations that have included Oxford, Lulworth Cove, Bracknell, Newhaven and Barcelona. We also take A-Level students on enrichment trips whenever possible such as the London Migration Museum & to see the impacts of regeneration in Birmingham. One of our biggest trips is offered on a biannual basis which is a week-long trip to experience the spectacular geography on show in Iceland. Whilst students are offered these opportunities within school, there are numerous places that students could visit at weekends or in the holidays to enrich their learning and we encourage all students to be curious about the world around them.

 

Careers & Future Study

“Geography graduates have one of the highest rates of graduate employment, pursuing a wide range of career paths. Put simply, there is no such thing as a geography job; rather there are multiple jobs that geographers do!” Royal Geographical Society

Click here to investigate further where a career in Geography could take you.​

 

Staff:

Subject Leader: Mrs E Atkins- Part Time

Miss S Heard

Mrs J Shepherd- Part Time

Ms C McLean

Mrs R Rathbone- Part Time

Mr L Wild

Key Stage 3

Year 7- Geography

Year 8- Geography

Year 9- Geography

 

Key Stage 4

Year 10- Geography

Year 11- Geography

 

Key Stage 5

Year 12- Geography

Year 13- Geography