Geography - Year 7 Curriculum

When pupils arrive in year 7, they spend the first half term on the topic Making Connections. In this topic they use the geographical skills and understanding of places developed in their primary schools to find out about their new secondary school and its locality. They learn about the connections between places around the world, and how they are connected to places that they know. They learn how to describe places, locate places and to conduct an enquiry.

The next half term is used to Explore the UK. They learn about how the UK is composed to understand why the people of the UK are culturally diverse, to distinguish between UK climate and weather, to evaluate bias in images of the UK and to develop an awareness of the place of the UK in the world.

In the flooding topic they learn about what happens to water when it reaches the ground and then go on to look at the causes of flooding, the effects of flooding in the UK and Bangladesh and how those communities respond to flooding.

In the people topic, they find out what the world's total population is and then look at how population changes and who is affected by population change.

In the work topic, they learn how to divide people's jobs into different types: Primary, Secondary and Tertiary. They then learn about an example of each type of job.

Throughout the three years there are recurrent themes.

Enquiry learning is embedded throughout the course. Skills of enquiry are addressed directly in each year, with year 7 providing an introduction to the enquiry process.

Wherever possible, local fieldwork studies have been integrated, in particular using the school grounds. However, with the acquisition of interactive whiteboards they also have virtual fieldtrips.

A core group of countries is used for case studies. In year 7 the UK and Bangladesh are used, in year 8 they are the UK and Spain and in year 9 they are Mexico, the USA and Brazil. Different approaches are used to help challenge stereotypes.

Sustainability and other issues of relevance to pupils and their lives are incorporated into topics, aiming to engage pupils and make them feel valued and their opinions respected.

Citizenship responsibilities are drawn out of many of the topics, especially on sustainable development.

Passport to the world is an integrated thread throughout the three years. It aims to highlight the relevance of Geography to the 'real world', and provide opportunities to link to work-related learning and possible future careers. At the end of each year, pupils are encouraged to apply their geographical skills outside of school in the 'passport to the world' topic.

All lessons are designed using the Effective Learning Framework. Underpinning the whole framework is the climate. Lessons start with "connecting the learning". This is in the form of a starter activity based either on the previous lesson or on an introduction to the coming lesson. The second stage is "sharing the learning outcomes". The learning outcomes for the lesson are put up on the board. The teacher explains how they fit into the 'Big Picture'. The main learning starts with the instruction. This may be interactive activities, animations, video clips, photographs, maps and images that are used by the teacher to teach the content of the lesson. The aim is to give pupils a visual, auditory and kinaesthetic input. The next part of the main learning is the process. This is the part of the lesson where the pupils carry out tasks. Over the course of a topic pupils will have experienced tasks that allow them to demonstrate their learning using all eight of the Multiple Intelligences identified by Howard Gardner. Pupils then demonstrate their learning. That is what they have learned. This is usually an interactive activity. The final stage is the reflection which is where pupils reflect on how they have learned. This is the most important part of the framework as it allows pupils to make sense of their learning and how the skills they have developed in the lesson can be transferred to other areas.

At regular intervals throughout the three years pupils are given opportunities to think about their aims or the goals they want to achieve in Geography, set targets to achieve them, assess their own work (self-assessment) and that of other pupils (peer assessment) and then work out what the next steps are to get even better.

Assessments are carried out the end of each topic. There are varieties of assessment tasks to cover the Multiple Intelligences. Each pupil has an assessment folder that contains all their assessments and a record of their attainment. Each pupil is given a 'criteria for success' sheet when given an assessment, which this tells them what they need to do to achieve each level. In class books a quality piece of formative marking takes place twice per topic. The department uses the Shirley Clarke Model. The teacher marks to the learning objective, highlighting three areas where the objective has been met. There is an arrow pointing to a place where the work could have been developed. Pupils are then given five minutes at the start of next lesson to address the point for development.

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Geography - Year 7 Curriculum