Geography

Geography will inspire curiosity about the world around us.

Geography at Beckfoot will provide students with an understanding of the world and their place in it, with a firm grasp of both physical and human geography.

We instill an empathy in our students as a global citizen and an appreciation in developing a better world for the future. Students will be custodians of the environment. Beckfoot geographers will show a passion for learning through enquiry.

Our students are encouraged to develop a detailed knowledge of the real world and use all detailed knowledge to support their points and arguments.

Enrichment

Needed…

Assessment

In years 7, 8 and 9, internal assessments will take place throughout each year to monitor student progress and further inform teaching and learning. 

At GCSE, students will be assessed in three written exams at the end of Year 11, with mocks and internal assessments over two years to monitor progress.

KS4 Specification

Careers

Geography at Beckfoot will develop a range of employable skills: analysis and evaluation, researching and supporting arguments. Students will also have opportunities to present their ideas and argue their opinions.

Curriculum Overview

YearCycle 1Cycle 2Cycle 3
Year 7

Walls: Students will begin to develop their awareness of the wider world as they focus on tensions around existing borders so they can begin to formulate comparisons between countries.

Geographical skills: Students will learn basic map skills so they can confidently read an Atlas Map and describe locations.

Rivers: Students will look at the processes and landforms within a river system, how they’re formed and the causes and impacts of flooding.

Ice on the land: Students will learn about the changes in global ice coverage and the physical processes within a glacier that result in distinctive glacial landforms such as a corrie and glacial trough.

Coasts: Students will gain an introduction to the landforms at a coastal landscape and be able to explain how processes of erosion create these. They will also look at how engineering can be used to protect coastlines.

Life in Antarctica: Students will learn about the climate and the cause of the climate in Antarctica, receive an introduction to the concept of biodiversity and how humans threaten the environment.

Life in a hot desert: Students will understand the climate in a hot desert and continue to learn about biodiversity and how humans threaten the environment.

Fieldwork: Students will learn how to carry out fieldwork and collect primary and secondary data and create graphs and tables to present their data.

Year 8

Volcanoes: Students will gain an introduction to plate tectonics and natural hazards, as they focus on the cause and impacts of volcanic eruptions. They will be able to identify constructive and destructive plate boundaries and describe how movement can cause volcanic eruptions.

Urban geography: Students will understand the concepts of urbanisation and growth in UK cities and compare opportunities and challenges of urbanisation in HIC’s and LIC’s. Students will also look at sustainable urban living.

Environmental issues: Students will look at global warming and extreme weather and begin to assess sustainable solutions. They will also assess the impact of human activity in ocean ecosystems.

Development in the Horn of Africa: Introduction to the concept of development, development gaps and inequality, as students learn about concepts of poverty and the promotion of economic development. They will be able to explain the causes of inequality in development and suggest strategies to reduce inequalities.

Year 9

Tour de Yorkshire: Students will look at the Tour De Yorkshire to celebrate the distinct UK landscape and how it can attract tourism. Students will look at the positives and negatives of tourism and formulate an argument to assess those impacts.

Russia: This unit looks at the physical and human landscape of Russia and their interdependence. Students will be introduced to geopolitics and the concept of superpowers and Russia’s political status.

Middle East: The unit looks at the physical and human of the Middle East and their interdependence. Students will look at Dubai to study sustainability, Middle Eastern conflicts and their impacts.

South West China: This unit focuses on the physical and human landscape of South West China and their interdependence. The unit also encourages students to develop their World knowledge and make comparisons between places. The unit then focuses on the development of China, its population and its relationship to the wider the world. The unit recaps Geopolitics and the concept of superpowers.

Year 10

Living world: Tropical Rainforests – Understanding the economic and environmental issues of deforestation and how to manage this.

Living world: Cold Environments – How the development of cold environments creates opportunities and challenges and how they’re at risk from economic development.

The challenge of natural hazards: tectonic hazards – understanding the primary and secondary effects of a tectonic hazard, that effects and responses to them vary according to wealth, and that management can reduce the hazard.

The challenge of natural hazards: weather hazards: understanding that tropical storms develop because of particular physical conditions, their effects, and the impact of them in the UK.

Psychical landscapes in the UK: river landscapes – distinctive fluvial landforms and management strategies for flooding.

Urban issues and challenges: Understanding that urban growth creates opportunities and challenges for cities in LICs and NEEs,  how urban changes leads to social, economic and environmental challenges and how urban sustainability requires management of resources and transport. An overview of the UK population and the major UK cities.

Year 11

The changing economic world: Understanding that there are various strategies for reducing the global development gap and that some LICs and NEEs are experiencing rapid economic development leading social, environmental and cultural change. Recognising that major economic changes in the UK have affected and will continue to affect employment patterns and regional growth.

Physical landscapes in the UK: Coastal landscapes – looking at distinctive coastal landforms and understanding that they are the result of rock type, structure and physical processes. Looking at strategies to protect coastlines.

Fieldwork: apply knowledge and understanding to interpret, analyse and evaluate information and issues related to geographical enquiry. Select, adapt and use a variety of skills and techniques to investigate questions and issues and communicate findings in relation to geographical enquiry.

Resource management: students will understand the changing demand and provision of resources in the UK, looking at ways to increase food supply, water supply and energy supply.