Geography

Ethos & Values

We aim:

• To enhance children's quality of learning through the effective delivery of the Geography syllabus.
• To raise attainment by creating a target-orientated culture based on the enhancement of self-esteem.
• To have consistently high expectations and match these with high quality resources and learning strategies.
• To provide a range of educational experiences appropriate to the age, ability and needs of our students.
• To manage resources to ensure maximum benefit.

Knowledge & Skills

Knowledge and understanding of human behaviour, its consequences for other humans and the world they inhabit are important to all students in understanding the world in which we live.

Geography allows you to develop key world information and to develop a variety of skills. A successful Geographer will be able to:

• Understand what motivates people, what they think and feel.
• Gather and read different kinds of information.
• Read maps, graphs and other diagrams.
• Communicate clearly and learn to express yourself verbally and on paper.
• Communicate clearly and effectively, displaying a good standard of written English.
• Present arguments and consider viewpoints.
• Work safely in different locations whilst undertaking fieldwork.
• Use specialised fieldwork equipment to gather information about the locations your visit.
• Develop the use of subject specialist equipment and ICT.

Resources & Facilities

At Louth Academy we have a strong team of dedicated and professional Geography teachers who are passionate about teaching the subject.

We offer dedicated, well equipped and comfortable classrooms, with interactive facilities; we also offer a wide range of quality resources and subject specific software.

Courses & Qualifications

Key Stage 3

Our curriculum is based around seven ‘big ideas’ – environments, processes, patterns, interaction, change, perspectives and sustainability. These also tie in with the Academy’s wider Curriculum Themes. Our classrooms feature displays designed to encourage our young geographers to link their ideas and learning…not to see each new topic as isolated from the last one etc.

All students study Geography at Key Stage 3 in line with the National Curriculum but our learning has been carefully sequenced so that the whether students complete one or both key stages, they will have a much better range and depth of knowledge and a suite of transferable skills by the end of their time in our care. They will also be able to connect their learning both within geography but also between geography and their other subjects.

Year 7 – exploring the UK

In Year 7 students study the Geography of the United Kingdom. This includes a map skills-based introduction, an investigation into our natural landscapes formed through the work of rivers, the sea and also ice. Later in the year we study British weather and climate, before switching our focus to UK cities, our changing population and our major cities as well as a look at the challenges faced by the UK’s more deprived areas. Each unit is completed with a different skills-based enquiry. The topics are carefully sequenced to illustrate the links between our natural and human environments.

Year 8 – exploring the wider world

In Year 8 we study the Geography of the Wider World. This encompasses Plate Tectonics, Extreme Weather and Global Ecosystems before moving on to investigations into disparities in global wealth. We have a detailed focus on Africa before completing the year by investigating a range of contemporary global issues, from plastic in the oceans and climate change through to the problem of threats to our wilderness areas and the geography of conflict zones. As with Year 7, the topics have been carefully sequenced to allow students to better appreciate the forces that shape our planet’s natural environments and then how human activities can change these environments in negative or positive ways.

Year 9 – Geography in Focus – Our Living World and our influence upon it

This year sees a more in-depth series of enquiries to a smaller range of topics and themes – rainforest and hot desert biomes – worlds of challenge and opportunity and ones increasingly under threat. We also explore our relationships with food, water and energy, before embarking on an in-depth study of our rapidly urbanising world, with a focus on Rio de Janeiro and Curitiba in Brazil.

At Key Stage 4, students complete a full GCSE qualification in Geography following the AQA 9-1 syllabus, with examinations taking place at the end of Year 11; students are also required to take part in fieldwork. They will sit three examinations at the end of Year 11:

Paper 1: Living with the Physical Environment (35% of GCSE);

Paper 2: Challenges in the Human Environment (35% of GCSE);

Paper 3: Geographical Applications (30% of GCSE).

Students studying this GCSE will also undertake fieldwork, practising different methods of data collection for both Human and Physical Geography; these skills along with all additional content will be tested in examination papers at the end of Year 11.

Year 10 – our hazardous world and following the rock cycle…

• We roll our urban studies from Year 9 into the start of Year 10, this time focusing on matters closer to home – the proud city of Hull! We explore its growth and importance, its emerging links with other regions, its complex challenges and the many new opportunities now being created across a range of industries. It’s relevant and local! We also get to explore the city in our first of two fieldwork trips!
• Our urbanising world has many benefits but it has also increased our vulnerability to hazards…we look at how our increasing population is increasingly vulnerable to hazards – with a focus on tropical cyclones and climate change. We explore the link between poverty and vulnerability and our studies of hazard response often look at the importance of gender empowerment in the developing world. We then use this learning to switch focus:
• Following the rock cycle – here we have linked our physical topics to follow the rock cycle – from tectonic activity right through to the movement of sediment through river and then coastal systems. In the summer term we undertake our second fieldwork day, exploring the coastal defence strategies employed along the Lincolnshire coast

Year 11 - Our changing economic world and the UK’s place within it…

• Here we explore global development, wealth and poverty – its causes, consequences and how we are trying to narrow the gap between rich and poor. We explore the economic and social development of Nigeria – a Newly-emerging Economy (NEE). Finally, we investigate the changing economic landscape of the UK and its dynamic links with other nations and regions of the world and our changing place within it.
• This route is designed to link back to the topics first covered in Year 7 – bringing all of our studies over the five years ‘back home’ with the aim that our students can make the link between us and the wider world…broadening horizons and improving their awareness of the adult world that they are about to enter.

Learning Outside The Classroom

At Key Stage 4, GCSE students undertake two fieldtrips to contrasting environments, enabling them to develop their knowledge and understanding of both physical and human geography. Examples of past fieldtrips include a visit to the Lincolnshire Coast to investigate the impact of coastal management, and a visit to Hull to study urban regeneration in the Marina area as well as differing environmental quality in Avenue v Myton wards

Where Does This Take Me In The Future?

The study of Geography lets you develop skills which could lead to many different career choices. Many people who have studied Geography have gone into the following fields:

Accountancy, Administration, Archaeology, Architecture, Barrister, Broadcasting, Civil Service, Diplomatic Service, Drama Theatre and the Performing Arts, Education, Environment and Conservation, Finance, Information Management, Media, Teaching, Public Relations, Journalist, Legal Executive, Police, Politics, Publishing, Sales and Marketing, Solicitor, Tourism, Town Planning, TV Researchers, Lawyers

Geography is highly regarded by many employers and universities due to the wide range of skills and knowledge that students acquire.