Geography

"The study of geography is about more than just memorizing places on a map. It is about understanding the complexity of our world, appreciating the diversity of cultures that exists across continents. And in the end, it's about using all that knowledge to help bridge divides and bring people together."

Ex US President Barrack Obama

The Geography Department aims to:

• build on prior learning in key stages 1 and 2 and early years experiences of our planet in order to develop a life-long enthusiasm for Geography
• encourage all students to consider further study of geography and entry to related careers post-16 and beyond
• develop students’ interest of the impact of geography in the wider world through enquiry, fieldtrips to both urban and rural environments and continued work of the ECO club and house based whole school competitions.

Specialist teaching

The Geography department has a underlining ethos of developing exciting and engaging accessible learning for all students to develop their viewpoints and be appreciative of others .

• EAL students have carefully planned accessible resources using the latest online learning and translation software.
• SEN students experience both enjoyable and aspirational learning tasks developing their mind-set for improvement from mistakes.
• Literacy and numeracy competency is constantly developed in learning tasks and resources created.
• Key to all our strategy is metacognition development since day 1 Year 7 , which helps them develop identification and ownership as early as possible of their own individual learning strategy .

Key stage 3

Twickenham School Geography Department are specialists who deliver Key Stage 3 across 2.6 years in Years 7 -9. The curriculum is sequenced to ensure that topics are delivered in a logical way in order to develop interleaving and memory retention whilst also and link students’ skills and experiences. The curriculum develops knowledge and skills relevant to GCSE Geography including enquiry based investigation in Year7 and use of the latest ICT resources and learning tools to assess and evaluate topical scenarios linked to Current affairs.

In term 3 all Year 9 students study the Living World Topic component of the AQA GCSE syllabus. This both serves to complete the National Curriculum breath of coverage for Geography as well as the opportunity to begin the GCSE to cover content with plenty of time to develop practice and preparation for the final assessments.

Students currently study the AQA Geography course consisting of 3 examination papers undertake two fieldwork enquiries.

In Year 10 during the Spring Term a River fieldwork enquiry at Field Studies Centre in Dorking investigating changes in stages of the River Tillingbourne and human impact on the river. Students thoroughly enjoy this highly inclusive experience away from the school environment and it has impact on their enjoyment and engagement of Geography.

In Year 11 in the Autumn term an environmental Urban area analysis of 2 areas in SW London is undertaken requiring a wide range of fieldwork techniques which they have developed prior in KS3 and KS4 . The students thoroughly enjoy the group work and team ethic approach to calculating data for analysis back in the classroom.

GCSE students at Twickenham School have clear support from resources developed in the department to enhance their learning and to raise aspirations to go beyond Target grades based on Key Stage 2 performance.

Specification:

https://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/geography/gcse/geography-8035/changes-for-2021

 

Curriculum Sequence

Implementation: