In year 7 we start with the topic “Investigating our place in the world.” Here we build on skills learned at Key Stage 2 and study our local area, whilst also developing map skills, and studying the work at a national, continental and global level. We then study biomes at a global level and focus on the Sahara Desert, including migration in the region which links to urbanisation and issues in cites, we then study uneven development and how problems can be reduced. We also study the biomes of the rainforest which links, through deforestation, to climate change, and end the year with fieldwork which investigates how our local area can be made more sustainable in the future. Our curriculum is well planned and we have considered the sequencing of lessons carefully in order to have a clear story and narrative running through the curriculum.
We begin year 8 with a study of globalisation, which investigates food miles and their impacts, and the outsourcing of secondary and tertiary industries to Asia. We consider how deindustrialisation has affected the UK and also see how outsourcing has affected India, and specifically Bangalore. Whilst in this region we study the Himalayas, and how they are formed linking to plate tectonics and tectonic hazards. Whilst on the topic of natural hazards we study rivers and flooding. Then we continue to study physical geography with the topics of glaciation and coasts. We complete the year with a local physical fieldwork investigation.
In year 9 students expand their knowledge in greater depth through a study of Asia and geographical issues in Russia, China and The Middle East. A wide variety of geographical skills are interwoven into the curriculum, and we consider the impact of climate change on the world at various places in the curriculum.