Department: Geography
Curriculum Intention:
Geography at Huish Episcopi aims to equip students with the knowledge and skills to make sense of our complex and dynamic world. Our curriculum is not about students leaving with a long list of facts about the world; we want our students to appreciate the ever-evolving nature of Geography as an academic discipline. Through our sequences of learning experiences, students will steadily work out how the world works and how it can and will change in the future.
Curriculum Implementation:
- KS3
The Geography curriculum at Key Stage three is based around the following key concepts; sustainability, causality, mitigation, adaptation, feedback, interdependence, identity, globalisation, risk, system, threshold, identity, inequality and resilience. These key concepts are interwoven into all topics at Key Stage three and directly build into the main themes at both A Level and GCSE. In Year 7, students start with focusing on place and locational skills and build onto bigger topic studies of Africa and the world’s Oceans. In Years 8 and 9, students begin to have deeper investigations into key Geographical topics in both human and Physical Geography, which can be seen on our learning journey.
- KS4
In Key Stage 4 we study AQA Geography: https://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/geography/gcse/geography-8035
Students study Physical Geography (Paper 1) in Year 10 and Human Geography (Paper 2) in Year 11. Details of the topics taught can be seen on our learning journey. Throughout the two years, students also study geographical skills and undertake fieldwork, which are examined in Paper 3. We undertake two fieldwork trips, one to Lyme Regis in Year 10 and to Bristol in Year 11.
- KS5
In KS5 we study Edexcel Geography https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-a-levels/geography-2016.html The themes that we built into KS3 are all contained in A Level Geography and there is a strong focus on Synoptic Links. In Year 12, students study Tectonics and Coastal Landscapes in Physical Geography and Regeneration and Globalisation in Human Geography. In Year 13, Students study Water and Carbon in Physical Geography, and Superpowers and Migration in Human Geography. Students also complete a piece of coursework based on 4 days of compulsory fieldwork.
Monitoring and assessing curriculum impact:
- KS3
Students' books are marked in line with the school marking policy and also have a formal end of topic test at the end of each unit, 5 per year.
- KS4
Students complete practice exam questions and in class and for homework, which are marked with points for improvement given by the teacher. They then have a formal 30-minute written end of topic test on each unit and also an end-of-year exam in Year 10. Year 11 have mock exams on two occasions throughout the year. There are three papers in the GSCE qualification, all taking place in May/June of Year 11.
- KS5
Students complete regular exam questions in class and for homework. Students complete a formal written test at the end of each topic. Students have end of year exams in Year 12 and mocks in Year 13. There are three papers that make up the A level exam, all completed in May/June of Year 13. Students also complete a piece of coursework worth 20% of their grade.
