Geography
The Geography Department
The Department seeks to enable students to gain access to, and gain knowledge of, Geography through the development of an understanding of key skills and concepts that underpin the subject by taking on responsibility for their own learning so that students can achieve their highest potential in Geography.
The department believes that successful learning and understanding arises through the provision of fieldwork, an area of academic study which is strongly emphasised, and by creating international understanding between pupils of differing nationalities so that they may learn to appreciate and value each other’s cultures. In all its work, the Department endeavours to develop pupils' understanding of the local environment.
Regular field trips take place throughout the year to a variety of locations. These include the beach, local parks, the Hajar Mountains on the East Coast and the desert areas between the coast and the mountains. Year 13 go to Cyprus for their fieldwork, where there is an even balance between studying human and physical geography, with an emphasis on data collection and analysis.
There is a department website and increasing use is being made of Cloud computing including document sharing with and between students. A permanent weather station downloads data to a laptop. This information can be accessed at:
https://sites.google.com/site/geographydc/home
Course outline for Key Stage 3
The curriculum reflects the National Curriculum of England and Wales which has been adapted to reflect the local geography of the area. In brief, the key focus of Year 7 is mapwork, the geography of Dubai and the UAE, rivers and flooding and hazards. Year 8 students study coasts, Brazil, ecosystems, weather and climate. Year 9 students study oceans, coffee, fashion and China.
Course outline for GCSE
The course seeks to develop students’ prior knowledge and skills. More specifically, students will develop their cartographic, graphical, geographical enquiry, ICT and GIS skills and have a greater understanding of the environmental issues of climate change and sustainable development. In addition, they will study the physical geography of coastal, river, glaciated and tectonic landscapes. Finally, students will examine economic change, farming and the countryside, settlement change, population change, migration and tourism.
The final unit involves students completing a fieldwork investigation and report. They must complete one of the tasks provided by the examination board on one of the following themes: coasts, the countryside, the environment, rivers, tourism, transport and urban areas.
More information can be found by clicking on the following link:
http://www.edexcel.com/quals/gcse/gcse09/geography/a/Pages/default.aspx
Course Outline for A Level
The course seeks to develop students understanding of physical and human geography, their geographical skills and it will assess contemporary geographical issues. The final paper of the course involves answering short and extended questions based on candidates’ fieldwork investigation and fieldwork skills as well as answering questions on an Advance Information Booklet.
Further details about the course can be found by clicking on the following link:
http://web.aqa.org.uk/qual/gce/humanities/geography_noticeboard.php?id=10&prev=10