The geography curriculum has been created to promote aspirations within pupils and to develop an understanding of not only their local area, but the wider world. Geographers will be able to demonstrate empathy with the environments and people that they study, gaining an understanding of how and why countries and cultures may differ. In order to develop their understanding of geography in the real world, pupils will undertake several fieldwork visits and enquiry projects in both key stage 3 and key stage 4.

At Key Stage 3, pupils follow schemes of work that investigate key themes and questions within the following topic areas:

Map Skills – including Continents, Oceans, the UK, grid references, scale, compass directions, geographical sketches and OS map symbols.

Settlements – a study of how urbanisation is changing the World in which we live in. This also includes a case study on Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, looking at the culture of the City, how it’s different to where we live and the social/economic challenges they face.

Globalisation – a study of how our World is becoming more interconnected and how we, as citizens of the World, fit into its future.

Rivers – we look at how rivers are formed, the water cycle, waterfalls and valleys, meanders and oxbow lakes and the causes of floods. We then go into depth with a case study surrounding the Somerset Floods in 2104 and how we can prevent it from happening in future.

Living World – a study of the Earth’s great ecosystems including Rainforests and Deserts.

Natural Hazards – The great geographical disasters that humans face around the World! We look at the devastation caused by earthquakes, volcanoes and what we can do to prevent such catastrophe.

GCSE Geography requires commitment and motivation, you will be expected to do independent studying and research at home in order to achieve your personal best.

We study the AQA GCSE (9-1) Geography course.
Content comprises the following elements:

Paper 1: Physical Geography

1.1: Natural Hazards – Plate tectonics, earthquakes and tsunamis. Case Study: Nepal Earthquake (2015), Chile Earthquake (2011). Weather hazards including hurricane formation and UK storms. Case Study: Somerset Floods (2014), Typhoon Haiyan, Philippines (2013).

1.2 The Living World – Ecosystems including World biomes, food webs and climate graphs.
Rainforests – climate, vegetation, animals and deforestation. Case Study: Malaysia
Deserts – The uses and challenges of the Western Desert in the USA.

1.3 Physical Environments in the UK – Rivers – river basins, the water cycle, erosion & transport processes, causes of flooding and flooding management.
Coasts – types of waves, long shore drift, erosion and transport processes, erosion landforms, deposition landforms and hard/soft engineering. Case Study: Swanage, UK.

This will be assessed by a 1 hour and 30 minutes written exam.
This is worth 35% of the overall GCSE Geography qualification.

Paper 2: Human Geography

2.1 Urban Issues & Challenges – The growth of the urban population, megacities, comparison between urban growth in an LIC (poor country) and a HIC (rich country).
NEE Case Study: Rio de Janeiro. HIC Case Study: Manchester

2.2 The Changing Economic World – Population pyramids, the demographic transition model, international migration, indicators of national development, the gap between rich and poor.
Case Study: Nigeria & Shell (TNC)
The economy of the UK – past, present and future
Case Study: UK Car Manufacturing

2.3 Resource Management & Energy – The changing energy demands of the World, how energy demand is being met, and the future of sustainable energy. Energy in the UK – how to deal with demand.
Water – surplus and deficit.

This will be assessed by a 1 hour and 30 minutes written exam.
This is worth 35% of the overall GCSE Geography qualification.

Paper 3: Fieldwork & Geographical Skills

Fieldwork – trip to Blackpool (coastal management study) and Salford Quays (urban regeneration) – collecting, mapping and analysing sets of data to make a judgement.
Pre-release booklet – a booklet covering any aspect of Paper 1 or 2 will be released 12 weeks before the exam. Pupils will have this time to read, analyse and prepare for the exam which will question them on issues arising from this booklet.

This will be assessed by a 1 hour and 15 minutes written exam.
This is worth 30% of the overall GCSE Geography qualification.

Within the Geography department, we are keen to promote an enjoyment and excitement in Geography. Enrichment activities include:

* Weekly Humanities film club (each Wednesday in Pen 4)

* A KS3 ‘animal experience’ to accompany the ‘Living World’ topic – pupils get to see and hold exotic animals which have adapted to their home environment.

* A KS4 trip to Blackpool and Salford Quays to accompany the Paper 3 examination.

Mr Humphreys – simon.humphreys@salford.gov.uk
Mr Trumble – paul.trumble@salford.gov.uk
Mr Ince – phil.ince@salford.gov.uk