Geography

“The study of Geography is about more than just memorising places on a map. It’s about understanding the complexity of our world, appreciating the diversity of cultures that exist across continents. And, in the end, it’s about using all that knowledge to help bridge divides and bring people together.”

Barack Obama.

Geography Vision

Geography Curriculum Vision

The curriculum vision for Geography at Alde Valley Academy is to spark a lifelong curiosity and fascination about our planet. It is the aim of the curriculum in Geography to ensure our students will be in a strong position to make sense of the world around them, and to make a difference within the ever-changing world when they leave school. The curriculum is a knowledge rich ambitious course, where we also focus on disciplinary knowledge, where we want our students to think about the purpose of geography, and how geographers think, about the methods geographers use to create valuable insights about the world and the range of ideas and perspectives that make geography a truly global subject. We use our local environment as much as possible at Alde Valley Academy, focussing on local tourism and taking advantage of local coastal areas. 

How does this fit into the whole school Purpose of Education and intent? 

Within the geography curriculum we also want to prepare the students for the world of work, which fits in with the whole school purpose of education and intent, ultimately, we want to help our geography students to develop their own awareness of their place in the world to inspire our students to become thoughtful, globally, and environmentally informed citizens of our community. We also use the geography curriculum to embed more cultural capital within our students, this is also a whole school purpose for intent, we want to expand our students experiences and minds of the world in which they live and if they cannot go and visit these places in person we want to help them see it within a classroom. 

The new Geography specification covers traditional physical geography through topics such as coasts, rivers, earthquakes and rainforests as well as a more modern approach to human geography through studying our changing urban world, development issues and resources. Candidates are also required to participate in two geographical field trips. 

Revision Provisions

What is GCSE Geography?

Geography is a living and breathing subject that is constantly changing and it helps students to better understand and make sense of the world around them. Geography is a powerful subject as not only does it enable students to explain the physical and social structures of our world (i.e. how we affect our environment and how it affects us), in the past, present and future, but it also covers many pressing issues and will inspire students to want to tackle these issues. The students investigate the world at many scales, from the local to the global, and this encourages the development of ‘thinking like a Geographer’, i.e. ‘where is this place?’, ‘why is it here and not there?’, and ‘how did it get like this?’. In the world of globalisation in which we live today, it has never been more important to ‘think like a Geographer’ to develop the understanding of interconnection between the wide variety of topics, both within Geography and inter-related subjects such as science.  Therefore, the study of Geography creates more well-rounded and worldly people with an empathy towards those they share the world with.  

Who might enjoy this course?

Geography is for any young person who takes an interest in the world they are growing up in. It is a recognised academic qualification that will help you develop vital skills such as; communication, analytical and problem solving. All of which are useful in a wide range of jobs.

 

This qualification opens up many potential career pathways, both in the private and public sector, including; local government and the Environment agency, conservation work, areas of tourism, transport planning and of course teaching. GCSE Geography can also be a gateway to studying the subject further at college, A Level and then on to degree level should you wish.  

Skills
developed

What about exams? What will I study?

Living with the physical environment (Paper 1)

Section A: The challenge of natural hazards

Section B: Physical landscapes in the UK

Section C: The living world

 

Challenges in the human environment (Paper 2)

 

Section A: Urban issues and challenges

Section B: The changing economic world

Section C: The challenge of resource management

 

Geographical applications (Paper 3)

Section A: Issue evaluation

Section B: Fieldwork 

 

Geographical and mathematical skills are embedded throughout the course and can appear in any of the 3 papers; OS map skills, graphical skills and numeracy

What could I do next with GCSE Geography?

Geography is for any young person who takes an interest in the world they are growing up in. It is a recognised academic qualification that will help you develop vital skills such as communication, analytical and problem solving. All of which are useful in a wide range of jobs. This qualification opens up many potential career pathways, both in the private and public sector, including local government and the Environment Agency, conservation work, areas of tourism, transport planning and of course teaching. GCSE Geography can also be a gateway to studying the subject further at college, A Level and then on to degree level should you wish.

Steps to Success

Make sure that you have a revision guide. I would strongly recommend the Oxford revision guide as it accompanies the textbook that we follow. If you would like to purchase a revision guide, please email finance@aldevalley.suffolk.sch.uk and on receipt of your email you will be asked to pay £ 4.79 via Parent Pay.

Use your revision guide! Start revising now, write a timetable and stick to it. Your revision guide is also great for catching up missed lessons or recapping information.

Learn your command words. This knowledge will help you answer exam questions better. Follow this link to learn the AQA specific definitions: https://www.aqa.org.uk/resources/geography/gcse/geography/teach/command-words

Come to revision after school on Thursdays. We will cover all of the topics over the year to help your revision get off to a flying start.

Use different revision resources. These are great websites.

Know which topics you need to revise for each paper. Use the exam board specifications as a revision list. Always ask your teacher if you are unsure. https://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/geography/gcse/geography-8035/subject-content

Take advantage of exam questions in class to practice exam technique, it will soon become second nature. 

Learn your key words as this will improve your geographical vocabulary and help you access higher grades. 

Take control of your revision and stay focused!


LEARNING JOURNEY GEOG.pdf