In Geography, our intent is to provide students with a holistic geography education – covering a wide variety of concepts through themes, taught in Literacy for Life, that will allow students to gain an understanding of the world and future issues they may be faced with. The KS3 Geography curriculum promotes a curiosity about the world and the people within it for all learners. Our curriculum enables learners to be confident, understand and ask questions about the world around them: locally, regionally and internationally. Students are encouraged to come into each lesson showing an inquisitive nature as we explore a diverse range of topics, through the Literacy for Life themes, that develop their geographical skills, location knowledge and understanding of physical and human processes. Geography inspires pupils’ curiosity and fascination about the world and its people, through exploring key geographical concepts as well as human and physical processes that help shape the world around us. Students grow to appreciate the different values and morals that they should uphold in order to protect and respect our local and global environment, enabling them to become decent individuals. The Geography curriculum has been designed around the key concepts of location and place, change, cause and effect, systems and processes, planning and decision making. Opportunities to study the geography of the local area are embedded, where possible, within the curriculum to make learning relevant.
Year 7
| Theme 1 – Citizen Me | Theme 2 – Journey to the Centre of the Earth | Theme 5 – Journeys | Theme 7 – Water | Theme 8 – Growing | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Theme Overview: The intention of this theme is to expand student’s awareness of what it means to be part of a community. This is explored at local, national, and international levels as well as secular and religious community structures. Students will consider the benefits of pluralism, diversity, and British Values. As the idea of community is brought into focus, students will also consider how politics is a tool for change and how MPs are an integral part of this. Students will learn about inspiring people and will contemplate the qualities of a person who is an inspiring global citizen. Finally, students will work collaboratively with their peers to complete a class agreed ‘Citizen’ project. Key Geographical Concepts: Scale – the difference between a local, national, and international area. Why do we teach it: Citizen Me provides students with an introduction to Geography in the local area which is imperative for the delivery of future themes and for the locational knowledge of the students. Why now: Teaching citizen me as the first theme provides the students with the opportunity to learn about the local area. This is important for those students who have lived here their whole life and also those who are new to the area. This proves students with the basic local locational knowledge that they can use throughout future themes. Competencies: SE.GE.01: Demonstrate knowledge of locations and places, environments, and different scales. | Theme Overview: The intent of the theme is to use the mystique that has intrigued mankind throughout history about what goes on beneath the Earth’s surface to spark students’ curiosity. The theme focuses on a fascinating mix between scientific explanations, religious beliefs and key literary pieces with the centre of the Earth as a common link. The theme borrows its name from Jules Verne’s classic science fiction novel of the same name. The book introduces the students to the theme with a clear focus on inference as a literary skill when studying the text. Students will also explore the religious and scientific ideas of how the universe came into being. As the theme progresses students will discuss the impact of important scientific figures and discoveries on how, as humans, we understand our position in the universe. Key Geographical Concepts: Plate tectonics, causes of earthquakes and volcanoes, impacts of earthquakes/volcanoes in contrasting locations around the world. The atmosphere including weather and climate Why do we teach it: Journey to the centre of the earth covers some of the most important physical geography processes that students need to understand. It enables students to become curious about the world and the tectonic hazards that occur. Why now: This theme is taught now as it gives the students the opportunity to increase their physical geography knowledge whilst acting as a hook for their geography education. Competencies: SE.GE.03: Demonstrate understanding of physical geography concepts and its interrelationships with places, environments and processes. | Theme Overview: This intention of this theme is to enable students to consider a range of reasons as to why people undertake journeys, and the effects that embarking on these journeys may have on them. We begin the theme by looking at the map skills that enable travellers successfully to get from one place to another. Building on these skills, students are able both to plan a journey and to write about a journey they have previously undertaken. The theme enables students to demonstrate their place knowledge of the Middle East, and the importance of this region to many of today’s major world religions. Taking Christianity, Sikhism and Islam in turn, students explore religious pilgrimages that followers of these religions undertake, the reasons they take these journeys and what the lasting effects of these journeys may be. Students can contrast religious pilgrimages and poetry of today with those from the medieval period: have pilgrims’ reasons for undertaking these journeys changed over the centuries? Key Geographical Concepts: Compass directions, four and six figure grid references and using maps to plan a route. Why do we teach it: This theme provides students with the opportunity to learn map skills that will be revisited throughout KS3 and KS4 at WBCA. These map skills enable students to create their own journey to see how map skills can be put into real life practice. Why now: This theme is taught now as it provides the students with key geographical skills early on in their geography education. It builds upon the basic map skills they already know and allows them to then further develop these skills in future themes across KS3. Competencies: SE.GE.01: Demonstrate knowledge of locations and places, environments, and different scales. SE.GE.04: Demonstrate map skills. | Theme Overview: By the end of the theme students will be expected to answer the driving question of “does water always win”. They will be beginning to explore some of the more complex processes involving water such as river systems, glaciers and the hydrological cycle. They will look at the processes in which operate and the landforms that are created as a result of these processes. Students will be taken to visit a river so that they are able to see these processes in operation in real life. Key Geographical Concepts: River processes, river landforms, flooding and river management, glacial processes and landforms, tsunami’s, water pollution and coral reefs. Why do we teach it: The theme of water is taught as water has shaped the landscape of the UK through rivers and glaciers. This enables the students to understand why the UK’s relief is the way it is. This theme includes topics that are not taught as part of the KS4 curriculum including coral reefs. This is important as students need a holistic geographical education that is relevant to the current global issues. Why now: This physical geography topic comes after a series of map skills within the theme of journeys. This allows students to put their map skills to use in the context of rivers and glaciers. This time of year also provides the students with the opportunity to visit a river on a fieldtrip. Competencies: SE.GE.03: Demonstrate understanding of physical geography concepts and its interrelationships with places, environments and processes. | Theme Overview: The intention of this theme is to explore the variety of ways ‘growing’ can be applied to life. Students will study plant growth through investigating the conditions that allow growth to take place. In addition, they will study population growth and factors that contribute to this with a particular focus on comparisons o HICs and LICs. Furthermore, students will consider personal issues around ‘growing’ such as peer pressure and friendships. Key Geographical Concepts: Causes of population growth, settlements, describing population distribution, urbanisation, push and pull factors, impacts of population growth, difference between HICs and LICs and population pyramids. Why do we teach it: It is important for students to know the reasons for global population growth and the impacts that this could have as this is a current issue for many countries around the world. It is also good to introduce students to countries at different development levels. Why now: Students will be expected to understand the concept of population growth before themes such as made in China. They will also need to understand development levels of countries before they study the theme coming and going. This means it gives the students the foundational knowledge that they can build upon over the years. Competencies: SE.GE.02: Demonstrate understanding of human geography concepts and its interrelationships with places, environments and processes. | ||||||
