Geography

Department vision

Geography Centre of Excellence

Inspiring students at Wilmington Grammar School for Girls with an innovative, contemporary & engaging Geography curriculum.

Our aim is to deliver a curriculum which challenges and supports students to make outstanding progress in geographical knowledge, understanding and skills.  We want to inspire our students with a love of all aspects of geography and are keen to create in them a curiosity which drives students not only to excel academically but to also go out and literally explore their world.

As a department we recognise the importance of cultivating links outside the school and we are therefore involved with the Northwest Kent Geographical Association (GA) local branch with our partner school Gravesend Grammar School. We also have links with ESRI UK (GIS provider) and the FSC (Field Studies Council).

We have been awarded the GA’s gold Centre of Excellence quality mark for excellence in our geography curriculum and for our contribution to supporting geographical education in the local area.

 

Year 7

 

Topic 

Learning Outcomes 

Term 1       

Geography Basics 

What is geography? Continents and oceans, longitude and latitude coordinates, Earth’s land features and ocean-floor features. 

Term 2 

British Isles 

What are the British Isles? Changing population, changing settlements, British Isles physical geography, British Isles climate influences and patterns. 

Term 3 

Rainforests 

Rainforest ecosystems, global pattern of rainforests, layers of the rainforest, biological adaptations, deforestation in Borneo. 

Term 4 

Extreme weather 

Weather basics: What is weather? How high-pressure and low-pressure weather systems affect our weather. Weather fronts, understanding weather charts. 

Extreme weather: Tornadoes in the USA, Flooding in Bangladesh, Drought and bushfires in Australia. 

Term 5 

Map skills 

What is a map? Ordnance Survey maps and symbols, grid references, distance, scale, direction, elevation, contour lines, contour line landscapes. 

Term 6 

Exams and Ocean plastics pollution 

Exams & exam reflection 

Ocean plastics pollution – causes and effects including the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.  

Year 8

 

Topic 

Learning Outcomes 

Term 1    

Restless Earth: Tectonic hazards in the Pacific Rim 

Plate tectonics and hazards, earthquakes, tsunamis, pyroclastic flows, Lahars and Iceland’s 2021 Fagradalsfjall volcano – hazard or not? 

Term 2   

Unequal world: dealing with development 

What is development? How do we measure development? Why are some countries more developed than others? Benefits and costs of development in Indonesia; SDGs: How can development be sustainable? Impacts of mobile tech in the D R Congo. 

Term 3 

From mountains to the sea: A river story 

The water cycle. key processes e.g. evaporation, runoff. River basins. Stores, transfers and the physical & human factors affecting these processes. The long profile. Changing processes in upper, middle & lower courses. Erosion & deposition. River landforms. Erosion (waterfall) & deposition (meanders)  

 

Term 4 

Antarctica 

Polar environments. Global location, atlas skills. Arctic & Antarctic compared. Antarctica climate.  Drawing climate graph , interpreting & explaining why so cold & dry. Antarctica features. The frozen continent. How fauna adapts & survives. The Antarctic treaty. Main policy features. Debate: Who does Antarctica belong to? Antarctica threats 1 – Tourism. What impact? Should tourism be banned? Antarctic threats 2 – Climate change and the Domesday Glacier 

Term 5 

China 

China introduction. Global location, atlas skills, main physical & human features. China – a superpower? Comparisons with USA, Russia, E.U. Population distribution & factors affecting the pattern. Changing Chinese city – Shanghai short example to illustrate increasing trade (new ports), new transport infrastructure CASE STUDY: Three Child policy? Evaluating the success of attempts to manage population growth 

Term 6 

Exams and Russia 

Exams & exam reflection 

Atlas work and mapping key human and physical features. How Russia is changing. Population pyramids and Russia’s missing 12 million men 

Year 9

 

Topic 

Learning Outcomes 

Term 1    

UK characteristics 

What is the UK? UK relief pattern, relief rainfall, population distribution, water stress, UK land use, housing shortages, greenfield and brownfield housing developments, ArcGIS housing planning exercise. 

Term 2  

UK Population changes 

UK’s population trends, UK’s position on the demographic transition model, ageing population in the UK, London’s changing population structure and ethnicity. 

Term 3   

UK economic changes 

Main economic changes, changing political priorities, changing working hours, economic hubs, Canary Wharf economic hub case study. 

Term 4 

UK global significance 

The UK’s political significance, UK role in the 2014 Ukraine conflict, UK media exports, Ethnic groups and food.  

Term 5 

Changing climate 

How Earth’s climate has changed, Evidence for climate change, natural causes of climate change; the greenhouse effect including the impact of human activity, worldwide impacts of climate change; UK impacts of climate change. 

Term 6 

Exam and investigative geography 

Exams & exam reflection 

Fieldwork investigation on the school site. Planning the method, collecting the data, presenting the data. Conclusion and evaluation. 

Year 10 & 11

Year 10

 

Topic 

Learning Outcomes 

Term 1   

Dynamic Development 

What is development? Uneven development and groups of countries: ACs, EDCs and LIDCs. Economic and social measures of development. Human and physical factors leading to uneven development. Barriers to development. 

Ethiopia case study: How it has developed since 1970. 

Term 2 

Dynamic Development 

 

Sustaining Ecosystems 

Ethiopia case study: What global connections influence its development? What development strategy is most appropriate? 

What are ecosystems? What biodiversity exists in tropical rainforests? Why are tropical rainforests being exploited and how can this be managed sustainably? 

Term 3 

Sustaining Ecosystems 

Ecuador case study of sustainable forest management. What is it like in Antarctica and the Arctic? How are humans seeking a sustainable solution for polar environments in Antarctica? 

Term 4 

Distinctive Landscapes 

What is a landscape? Where are the physical landscapes of the UK? How have geology, glaciation and human activity affected the UK’s landscapes? What physical processes shape coastal and river basin landscapes?  

Term 5 

Distinctive Landscapes 

What physical processes shape coastal and river basin landscapes?  

Term 6 

Distinctive Landscapes 

What are the characteristics and influences on the North Norfolk coast and the Tees River Basin landscape? 

Physical geography fieldwork Reculver coast. 

 

Year 11

 

Topic 

Learning Outcomes 

Term 1   

Urban Futures 

How is the pattern of urbanisation changing? What does rapid urbanisation mean for cites? Human geography fieldwork Stratford urban. 

Term 2 

Urban Futures 

 

Global Hazards 

Birmingham city case study, UK 

Rio de Janeiro city case study, Brazil 

Why do we have weather extremes? Global circulation of the atmosphere, tropical storms and droughts. El Nino and La Nina.  

Term 3 

Global Hazards 

Case Study Typhoon Haiyan 2013, Philippines. 

Case Study UK Heatwave 2018. 

Tectonic Hazards, plate boundaries, how the movement of tectonic plates causes earthquakes and volcanoes.  

Case Study: Christchurch Earthquake 2011, New Zealand 

Term 4 

Resource Reliance 

How increasing demand for resources has affected our planet. What does it mean to be food secure? How can countries ensure their food security?  

Case Study: Tanzania food security. 

Sustainable food security strategies. 

Term 5 

GCSE exams 

Revision and final exam preparation 

Term 6 

Pre-enrolment tasks for WG6 

 

Post 16 at WG6

Year 12

 

Topic 

Learning Outcomes 

Term 1    

Coastal landscapes systems 

 

 

Changing Spaces; Making Places 

 

How can coastal landscapes be viewed as systems? How are coastal landforms developed? 

 

What’s a place? How do we understand place? How does economic change influence patterns of social inequality in places?  

Term 2 

Coastal landscapes systems 

 

 

Changing Spaces; Making Places 

 

 

How are coastal landforms developed? 

How do coastal landforms develop as climate changes? 

 

Who are the players that influence economic change in places? 

How are places created through placemaking processes? 

Term 3 

Coastal landscape systems 

Earth’s Life Support Systems 

 

 

Changing Spaces; Making Places 

Global Migration 

How does human activity cause change within coastal landscape systems? 

How important are water and carbon to life on Earth? 

How do water and carbon cycles operate in the Amazon rainforest? 

 

How are places created through placemaking processes? 

What are the contemporary patterns of migration? 

Why has migration become increasingly complex? 

Term 4 

Earth’s Life Support Systems 

 

Global Migration 

How do water and carbon cycles operate in the North Slope of Alaska, USA? 

 

What are the issues associated with unequal flows of global migration? 

Term 5 

Earth’s Life Support Systems 

 

Human Rights 

How much change occurs over time in the water and carbon cycles? 

 

What is meant by human rights? What are the variations in women’s rights?  

Term 6 

Earth’s Life Support Systems 

NEA preparation 

 

Human Rights 

To what extent are water and carbon cycles linked? 

Developing an investigation title, writing a proposal form with method. 

 

What are the strategies for global governance of human rights? To what extent has intervention in human rights contributed to development?  

Year 13 

 

Topic 

Learning Outcomes 

Term 1   

Hazardous Earth 

 

Disease Dilemmas 

What is the evidence for continental drift and plate tectonics? What are the main hazards generated by volcanic activity?  

 

 

 

What are the global patterns of disease and can factors be identified that determine these? Is there a link between disease and levels of economic development?  

 

Term 2   

Hazardous Earth 

 

 

Disease Dilemmas 

What are the main hazards generated by seismic activity?  

What are the implications of living in tectonically active locations?  

 

How effectively are communicable and noncommunicable diseases dealt with? How far can diseases be predicted and mitigated against?  

Term 3 

Hazardous Earth 

 

 

Disease Dilemmas 

What measures are available to help people cope with living in tectonically active locations?  

 

Can diseases ever be fully eradicated?  

 

Term 4 

A level exams 

Revision and final exam preparation 

Term 5 

A level exams 

Revision and final exam preparation 

Term 6 

 

 

 

Related Careers

The skills and knowledge gained by studying geography at GCSE and A level or university are relevant to almost all jobs and workplaces.  There has never been a better time to be a geographer.  The Russell Group of leading universities has selected geography as one of their preferred ‘facilitating’ subjects. 

  • Disaster Response Coordinator
  • Development and flood risk analyst
  • Business Development Manager
  • UN strategic planner
  • Audit Associate
  • Assistant Supervisor at an independent travel company
  • Global real estate services advisor
  • GIS consultant for a geospatial IT company
  • Weather Producer for a TV company
  • Senior policy advisor for climate change mitigation
  • Travel writer and broadcaster
  • Education travel consultant