Curricula – Geography

Vision

At the Radclyffe High School, we are always striving for excellence. We aspire to make our education lively and memorable. We welcome and nurture students from diverse backgrounds and develop our students’ sense of pride by increasing their own styles of resilience and optimism, to ensure that they can tackle anything. The purpose of education at The Radclyffe is to ensure that all students have access to ‘powerful knowledge’ no matter what their background. Education underpins student development and prepares them to face everyday challenges, starting from year 7 and continuing through to year 11 and hopefully, into their future lives.

The subject of Geography has the power to do this in three clear ways:

1. We give all of our pupils’ access to our vast wealth of knowledge through well-prepared lessons and a systematic style of learning, in order to help students, link their own lives to that of the world around them.
2. We ensure that all pupils, no matter their background, can access our lessons through excellent teaching methods, differentiation and regular support in the classroom.
3. We prioritise the teaching of other cultures, countries and how people interact with the physical environment to further cement students’ understanding of their place on Earth and the relevance of geography to them.

“Cherish the natural world because you’re a part of it, and you depend on it.” David Attenborough.

Every single person acts as a caretaker for our planet; therefore, as teachers, we should instil a sense of responsibility and duty within our students to care for it. As geography teachers, we do this by ensuring each student at The Radclyffe studies a variety of places and environments and then we discuss how physical and human processes can affect these. We teach our students to develop a variety of skills in order to problem-solve, manage and apply data effectively, distinguish the interdependence of the human and physical environment and to understand where they themselves fit into this complicated yet exciting world.

Year 7 Curriculum Intent

By the end of Year 7 students will have the necessary mapskills, an essential part of the geographer’s toolkit and a knowledge of geological timescales and the structure of the earth. They will have knowledge of the physical processes involved in the water cycle and how relief influences weather in the UK, how this links with water deficit and water surplus. They will have knowledge of the causes of climate change, and will begin to develop their knowledge of places around the world with a focus on European and North & South American countries.

Year 7 Topics

• What is Geography?
• Weather and Climate
• Resources & Climate Change
• Marine Ecosystems
• Water on Land
• Fieldwork (microclimate study)
• Year 8 Curriculum Intent

Year 8 Curriculum Intent

By the end of Year 8 students have had the opportunity to revisit threshold concepts in year 7 to build on these to widen their knowledge and understanding. For example, being able to explain how physical processes form physical landscapes, cause hazards and how the impacts need to be reduced by careful management. Students will know how human processes e.g. urbanisation affect human features e.g. cities. Students will understand the concept of development – the reasons for the development gap and the strategies to reduce this. They will have knowledge of the impact of industrialisation and urbanisation and a wider place knowledge through studies of Africa and Asia.

Year 8 Topics

• Natural Hazards and Tectonic
• Weather Hazards
• Rivers and Coasts
• Climate Change
• Ecosystems and Tropical Ranforests
• Cold Environments
• Resources: Water Management Fieldwork

Year 9 Curriculum Intent

By the end of year 9 students will have had the opportunity to build on the threshold concepts and key knowledge in years 7 and 8 They will understand how their lives can be affected by physical and human processes on the other side of the world and how decisions that they make can affect the lives of people in other parts of the world, can impact on places and the environment. They will have a deeper understanding of the Middle East, China, Russia and political superpowers of the 21st century. They will be equipped with the knowledge necessary to challenge stereotypes, make informed decisions and be responsible citizens of the 21 Century.

Year 9 Topics

• Tectonic Hazards onsible citizens of the 21 Century
• The Middle East
• Russia and China
• Superpowers
• Globalisation
• World Disasters – GIS project

Year 10 Curriculum Intent

Progression has been the key driver at the planning stage with concepts needed initially being taught first.
By the end of 10 students will have the knowledge of natural hazards including tectonic hazards, weather hazards and climate change. Students will also have a deeper understanding of hydrological processes involving coasts and rivers. Students will apply knowledge they have gained in KS3 to deepen their understanding around ecosytems and water management issues around the world. They will also have knowledge of the risk assessments associated with fieldwork and will have completed two pieces of fieldwork. They will have the knowledge to answer the majority of sections on paper 1 and a section of paper 2.

For more information regarding the GCSE specification, please see here: AQA | GCSE | Geography | Specification at a glance

Year 10 Topics

• Natural Hazards and Tectonic Weather Hazards
• Rivers and Coasts
• Climate Change
• Ecosystems and Tropical Ranforests
• Cold Environments – Resources: Water Management
• Fieldwork

Year 11 Curriculum Intent

By the end of Year 11 students will have acquired deep knowledge about the impacts of development around the world, with a key focus on development in Nigeria. Students will apply personal understanding of the UK to an in-depth study of the UK’s economy and Manchester. Finally, students will look at major growth around the world in cities such as Rio de Janiero and Frieburg with an understanding of how to create sustainable living environments. They will have the foundations to study GCSE further at A level have a deeper understanding of the physical and human processes that shape the world they live in and be responsible citizens.

Year 11 Topics

• The Development Gap
• Nigeria
• Urban Change: Rio, Manchester. Urban Sustainability: Frieburg
• UK Economy
• Paper 3 and Pre-release
• Revision