Geography
What will students learn?
Year 7
| What topics will I be studying? | What will I learn about? | How will I be assessed? | What does home learning look like? |
| Marvellous Maps | Students will learn the fundamental skills expected of them as a Seven Kings Geographer that will be needed at all Key Stages of learning as they progress through the school. They will be exploring different types of maps and applying a range of mapping skills whilst also creating their own maps and developing the ability to compare and contrast maps. | Pupils will complete an exam assessing their understanding of a range of geographical skills and how to apply them. | Examples of home learning include researching different types of maps and creating informative posters. |
| Crazy Coasts | In this unit of work, students will learn about coastal environments. They will gain an understanding of the different coastal elements including processes, landforms and management and apply this knowledge to their first mini-case study, Happisburgh. Students will be given the opportunity to engage in a class debate on the management of Happisburgh and vote on the decided outcome based on the opinions raised by different groups of people. | Students will annotate a photograph of a coastal environment - identifying, describing and explaining different processes, landforms and management that are shown in the image. | Home learning will involve creating informative leaflets on the different types of waves, researching the positives and negatives of different coastal management strategies. |
| Going Green | Over the course of this unit, students delve into the concept of sustainability. They will engage in a variety of lessons that will explore the theme of ‘going green’ by looking at the use of fossil fuels, alternative energy sources and modes of transport, water usage and waste management. Students will have the opportunity to learn in different styles and build upon existing skills through a debate on the creation of a wind farm. | Pupils will undertake a decision-making exercise that will allow them to create their own sustainable city while assessing their ability to justify and explain their choices. | Home learning tasks will include independent research study tracking personal water usage and writing a position paper in preparation for debates. |
| Local Area Inquiry | In this exciting unit of work, students will be introduced to the key geographical skill of enquiry. Students will carry out an investigation into the local area focusing on Ley Street and Charter Avenue. They will learn how to organise and conduct an investigation which will involve them creating a methodology and carrying out data collection, exploring the display of data in different graphical forms and learning how to interpret data and draw valid conclusions while also developing the skill of evaluation. | Students will be assessed through an extended piece of writing that will conclude their data findings and evaluate their investigation. | Home learning will be based on different sections of the investigation, for example creating different types of graphs to present data findings. |
| Impossible Places | Pupils will develop their knowledge and understanding on the geographical concepts of space, place, scale and their connections. They will study a variety of different places and environments that are thought to be ‘impossible’ due to factors such as climate, relief and accessibility. Students’ understanding of global spatial variations will be enriched through the study of contrasting places such as Norway, Dubai, Brazil, Easter Island and California to analyse how each is ‘impossible’; while learning about the different impacts this could have for humans and the threats this could pose for sustainability in the long term. | Pupils will be individually assessed on their participation in a whole-class debate on the management and sustainability of an impossible place. | Home learning activities include creating informative posters/leaflets on the characteristics of impossible places in Geography and researching different impossible places to apply knowledge in lessons. |
Year 8
| What topics will I be studying? | What will I learn about? | How will I be assessed? | What does home learning look like? |
| Aspiring Asia | Over the course of this unit students will be studying the continent of Asia. They will engage in a variety of lessons that will seek to enrich their understanding of the diverse content, learning about Asia’s location, diversity and economic development. Specific topics include child labour, Russia and tourism in Thailand. | Students will produce an essay that assesses whether tourism in Thailand is sustainable. | Examples of home learning include informative posters on Asia and letters to Asian governments persuading laws to be changed around child labour and the use of sweatshops. |
| Endangered Ecosystems | Students will be studying a range of different ecosystems found across the world including: cold environments, savannah grasslands and deciduous forests. Students will study these ecosystems through a critical lens looking at the ways in which they are used by humans, the impacts of these and how we can sustainably manage them to ensure they are protected from endangerment. | Students will be individually assessed in a class debate on how best to manage our ecosystems. | Home learning will be based around preparing for teaching a specific part of a lesson. This will stretch students’ understanding of a specific ecosystem and help them develop confidence in teaching their peers |
| Let’s Get Mapping | In this exciting unit of work, students will be learning about the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and its importance in Geography. They will gain valuable experiences in using GIS to create and present data on maps through a range of IT-rich lessons that challenge them to interact with different forms of GIS. | Student’s understanding of GIS will be assessed through their ability to produce a map that will allow them to apply the range of new skills learnt in lessons demonstrating their understanding of GIS. | Examples of home learning include researching maps, engaging with Google Earth independently and participating with exciting geographical games that incorporate GIS. |
| Enticing UK Environments | Students will learn about a range of different physical processes and how these have shaped different UK environments, gaining a deeper understanding of physical topics such as climate, glaciation and rivers through the study of different places and locations in the UK. Students will be given the exciting opportunity visit Debden Brook (Epping Forest) to apply their knowledge to a real life setting | Students will be assessed on their learning and understanding of rivers through an enquiry of how Debden Brook changes downstream. | Homelearning includes analysing river data, creating models of glacial landforms and tracking the weather of the UK. |
Year 9
| What topics will I be studying? | What will I learn about? | How will I be assessed? | What does home learning look like? |
| Our unequal world | In this unit of work, students will study the geographical topic of development and how this varies across different parts of the world. They will extend their understanding of development to look at the obstacles preventing development, how resources such as food are unequally accessed across the world and how we can sustainably develop. They will explore these themes through the study of many different African, Asian and South American countries. | Pupils will be individually assessed during a whole-class debate on the sustainable development goals and their ability to reduce inequality worldwide. | Pupils will have the chance to choose their home learning tasks from a selection of different tasks that range from writing newspaper articles, creating posters, gathering data and conducting research. |
| Our Climate Emergency | Students will study what is arguably one of the most current geographical topics that is often widely debated, climate change. Students will delve deeper into the issue of climate change exploring it through a geographical lens by focusing on both the natural and human causes, impacts and responses to climate change. They will study a range of different case studies including Australia and the Maldives to see how each are impacted by climate change. | Students will be assessed in the form of an exam which will include a range of different question types that seek to encompass their learning across the whole unit to assess pupil understanding. | Home learning tasks include writing newspaper articles on case studies and creating summary tables on the different impacts of climate change. |
| Horrendous Hazards | In this physical geography unit, pupils will study a range of tectonic and weather hazards including earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes and tropical storms. They will learn how each is formed as well as the impacts and responses of each hazard. Students will constantly be making links and drawing connections between the different hazard types in terms of their similarities and differences across the unit and throughout. | Pupils will write an essay that explains the different reasons why the effect of hazards vary across the world. | Home learning examples include researching different types of hazards through the use of videos and creating a comparative factfile to compare the effects of different hazard events. |
| Amazing Africa | Over the course of this unit, students will study the continent of Africa. They will engage in a variety of lessons that will seek to enrich and challenge their understanding of the diverse continent, learning about Africa’s location, economic development and its partnerships with other countries through foreign investment. Specific topics include trade, aid and China’s role in Africa. | Students will write an extended piece of writing assessing the extent to which trade is the best way for African nations to develop. | Home learning will involve creating a factfile and completing research on different African countries. |
| Project Y Independent | Pupils will develop and improve their skills as not just geographers but as enquiry learners. They will be given the opportunity of working in groups to undertake a research project on a region wishing to become independent of their nation state. This will involve them developing a research question to investigate and explore in depth. Students will become responsible learners as they will take the responsibility of teaching their presentation to their peers, sharing their research, findings and conclusions with their class. | Pupils will be individually assessed through their involvement and the work they help to produce within the group led project. | Home learning activities include taking their research from within lessons outside of the classroom to stretch their knowledge and allow them to apply this within the class. |
How can parents support their child?
Parents can help their child by spending time helping them to think of examples to help support their ideas/opinions, reading through research and creating a glossary of “keywords” and definitions. Through going through the homework activity with their child and helping them to think of, for example, different examples to support the point of view they are making.
Watching and reading the news is the most helpful thing you can do to support the learning of your child, allowing them to make links between their learning in Geography lessons and real world events.
