Geography

The purpose of the AGFS Geography curriculum is:

• Ambition: to strive for excellence through academic rigour in order to gain access to Russell Group universities and professional careers.
• Growth: to instil the value of practice and resilience to continuously develop.
• Fellowship: to interpret the world through a geographical lens in order to interpret contemporary issues and appreciate varying contexts.
• Scholarship: to promote a lifelong conversation and curiosity about the changing world.

The geography curriculum is organised by the power standards. These standards reflect the essence of the subject as an academic discipline and reflect the strands of each discipline that must be developed to achieve mastery. These threads are cross-referenced against the KS3 national curriculum, GCSE, A Level specification and degree courses at Russell Group universities to ensure that scholars’ experience of the subject is as broad and as academically rigorous as possible,

The geography power standards are: 

1. Build a breadth and depth of knowledge of places and environments within different contexts and at varying scales. (know geographical material)

2.Gain an appreciation of the complexity of geographical processes within the natural world and urban areas and the interactions between them. (think like a geographer)

3.Develop expertise of geographical skills, mastering cartographic, numerical, digital sources, fieldwork enquiry, primary and secondary data and investigative approaches. (study like a geographer)

4.Communicate well-evidenced written arguments through the application of geographical knowledge and concepts, real world contexts, understanding and skills. (applying geography)

All Year 7 subjects Next Year 7 Subject - Religious Studies and Philosophy

All Year 8 subjects Next Year 8 Subject - Religious Studies and Philosophy

All Year 9 subjects Next Year 9 Subject - Religious Studies and Philosophy

All Year 10 subjects Next Year 10 Subject - Religious Studies and Philosophy

All Year 11 subjects Next Year 11 Subject - Religious Studies and Philosophy

Recommended websites/ online platforms:

• BBC Bitesize GCSE Geography AQA
• BBC Bitesize Geography KS3
• Seneca Learning
• Internet Geography

Recommended activities to complete with your child:

1. GCSE scholars should use Google classroom to complete retrieval questions, workbooks, knowledge organisers and practice papers.
2. KS3: self-quizzing on core knowledge.

Scholars receive verbal, self and peer feedback every lesson through:

• Whole class feedback on common misconceptions in the read now, recall now activities and during daily review.
• Responses to whole class checking for understanding activities, such as hand signal responses, ‘heads down’ and mini whiteboard tasks. 
• Teacher intentional monitoring during deliberate practice activities. 

Scholars are expected to respond in the moment to this feedback to show they can correct errors and improve their knowledge and understanding. 

Scholars receive written teacher feedback after each checkpoint. Scholars complete checkpoint tasks independently so teachers can review what they know and can do. Checkpoints in geography consist of:

• Section A: Recall of the core knowledge 
• Section B: GCSE style exam questions that range from 1 to 9-mark and geographical skills, including; numerical, cartographic and graphical questions.

Written feedback from checkpoints will consist of:

• A score for section A and section B.
• Celebration of what has gone well. 
• Identification of a high leverage target. 

Scholars will complete a refinement task to show their understanding of the target and to demonstrate their capacity to improve their work. This could be achieved through redrafting a section of their work or attempting a similar task

Success in geography can lead to careers in:

• Politics
• Environmental sector 
• Law
• Government
• Education 
• The media
• Urban planning 
• Social researcher 
• International aid/ development worker 
• Landscape architect 
• Logistic and distribution manager 
• Risk analyst 
• Sustainability consultant 
• Conservation work 
• Data analyst and planning roles.

Through the study of geography, scholars will be exposed to a range of culturally enriching knowledge and experiences. 

Cultural capital within the curriculum:

Geography critically engages scholars with real world issues, building a breadth and depth of knowledge of global places and environments. This helps us to understand some of the big issues which affect our world, and understand the social, economic and physical forces and processes which shape our world to ensure we are living in a way that doesn’t damage it for future generations. Scholars are confident in their abilities to articulate and debate global issues including global warming, resource conflict, management of fragile ecosystems, and the development gap. 

Geography contribution to the enrichment programme:

• Duke of Edinburgh bronze and silver awards 

Geography contribution to Drop Down Day programme and trips and visits programme:

• KS3 – Fieldwork trip to Walton on the Naze to investigate the management strategies on the coastline.
•  Natural History Museum to compliment scholars' understanding of earthquakes and volcanoes.
• Investigating the role of the Thames Barrier and flooding in London through GIS mapping. 
• Year 10 – Fieldwork trip to the Canary Wharf to investigate the impacts of regeneration on people and the environment. 

• Year 11 – River fieldwork to investigate fluvial processes and landscapes to Epping Forest.