Geography

Aims of the department

To provoke and answers questions about the natural and human world, using different scales of enquiry to view them from different perspectives.
To promote in our students a knowledge of places and environments throughout the world, an understanding of maps, and a range of investigative and problem-solving skills.
We see geography as a focus within the school curriculum for understanding and resolving issues about the environment and sustainable development. As our students study geography, we hope they will encounter different societies and cultures. This will help them appreciate how people and nations rely upon each other.
We hope to inspire them to think about their own place in the world, their values, and their rights and responsibilities to other people and the environment.
To help prepare our students for exams, adult life and employment.

How do you bring the subject to life?

By using a wide variety of teaching and learning activities. These include extensive use of media clips, ICT, group work & activities out of the classroom.
By focusing on curriculum content that is inspiring, relevant & uses up-to-date examples.
By encouraging discussion and debate on a range of geographical issues.
By creating a fun and friendly atmosphere in lessons.

What facilities do you have?

2 specialist geography teaching rooms, both with interactive whiteboards.
Regular access to computer rooms or mobile/hand held laptops.
Each Key stage is supported by core textbooks & accompanying software/online resources as well as a plethora of in-house produced resources.

Do staff have specialist areas of interest?

Mr Elvidge - The local area & contemporary geographical issues eg coastal erosion & management.
Mr Gibson - Physical/environmental geography eg ecosystems. The geography of South-East Asia. Steve Irwin - ‘crocodile hunter’!

What is the coolest thing about the department?

The teaching staff obviously!!
During the long hot summer, the new air conditioning units!!

What do pupils enjoy most about learning in the department?

The variety of learning activities.
The opportunity to find out about a range of geographical issues and contexts that are relevant to them.
The opportunity to express their own views and opinions.
The humour and fun!

What teaching styles do you use in the department?

We make use of a range of learning contexts that allow our students to become independent enquirers, creative thinkers, team workers, self-managers, effective participators and reflective learners. For example, group work, discussion & debate, decision making activities, independent research and the use of a variety of traditional and contemporary teaching and learning resources (eg media clips, interactive resources, ICT). We try to use a range of teaching and learning styles that encourage our students to ‘think like a geographer’.

Contacts

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Curriculum

Year 7

Geographical skills
My patch - the local area
Our island home
Fragile environments- ecosystems at risk eg Tropical rain forests
Impossible places and adventure landscapes

Year 8

Risky world - hazard risk & impact eg earthquakes, volcanoes.
China today
Rivers and flooding
Coastal environments
Uneven development

Year 9

The geography of crime
The geography of my stuff eg food miles, child labour & online purchasing (globalization)
The geography of conflict
Eco-engineering in geography

Year 10

The new GCSE course began in September - AQA Syllabus B

The topics studied are:

Unit 1: The coastal environment or the urban environment
Unit 2: Living with natural hazards or the challenge of extreme environments
Unit 3: The globalization of industry or global tourism
Unit 4: Energy in the 21st century or water a precious resource. This unit includes 2 controlled assessment tasks, one based on one of the two issues in this unit and the other based upon a local investigation including fieldwork.

Each unit is worth 25% of the final mark. Units 1, 2 and 3 exams are each 1 hour. Unit 4, the controlled assessment includes 6 hours of high level control (students working on their tasks in exam style conditions. This will be preceded by research, data collection & preparation time in class and at home).

This is a modular course. Students will be entered for unit 1 in January 2010, unit 2 in June 2010, unit 3 in June 2011 and unit 4 in 2011 (submission of controlled assessment tasks to the exam board for moderation).

Year 11

AQA Syllabus C (Final year of this syllabus)

Paper 1 - June 2010 (25%)

“Paper 1 will investigate the relationship between economic development and the demand for energy.

It will examine the issue of limited energy supply and energy infrastructure in the developing world. It will consider how reliable and affordable can play an important part in creating economic opportunities in some of the poorest parts of the world. The paper will then consider the importance of sustainable strategies to increase energy security and the issues associated with a proposed large-scale energy project in part of the developing world.”

Paper 2 - June 2010 (50%)

Paper 2 will contain questions selected from the following units;

Unit 1: Population change
Unit 2: Rural-Urban migration in LEDCs
Unit 3: Changing city and town centres in MEDCs
Unit 4: Pressure on the rural-urban fringe
Unit 5: Earthquakes and volcanoes
Unit 6: Weather hazards
Unit 7: Water and food supply
Unit 8: Pressures in the physical environment
Unit 9: Contrasting levels of development
Unit 10: Resource depletion
Unit 11: Managing economic development
Unit 12: Tourism and the economy

Coursework (25%)

This will take place in the autumn term (2009). The deadline will be the end of the autumn term.

Year 12

AQA Syllabus (AS Level geography)

Unit 1: Physical and human geography (June 2010)

Rivers, floods and management (core section)
Population change (core section)
Coastal environments (physical option section)
Health issues (human option section)

Unit 2: Geographical skills (January 2010)

A geographical skills paper based on the core section content of unit 1.

Part of this exam paper will be based on the fieldwork task they will have undertaken (a river study in the North Yorkshire Moors)

Year 13

AQA Syllabus (A2 Level geography)

Unit 3: Contemporary geographical issues (June 2010)

Plate tectonics and associated hazards
Ecosystems
World cities
Contemporary conflicts and challenges

Unit 4a: Geographical skills paper (January 2010)

The main focus of this exam paper is based on the fieldwork task they will undertake (a vegetation succession study in the North Yorkshire Moors).

Gallery

Go to the gallery to see a large selection of geography departmen photos. For example;

Aerial photos of the local area taken by Mr Elvidge
Mappleton, Hornsea & Skipsea - coastal erosion & protection
Year 12 river fieldwork - North Yorkshire Moors
Year 13 soils fieldwork - North Yorkshire Moors
Year 11 fieldwork at Mappleton
Joint BGS & Beverley High School Geography Department trip to Sicily in 2008
2008 school ski trip to Saalbach in Austria