KS4 COURSE OVERVIEW

HEAD OF DEPARTMENT: MR LEWIS

A.Q.A. GEOGRAPHY SPECIFICATION A

Subject Content

This is a key subject in the development of the skills and understanding needed to interpret the background of and consequences of change in a rapidly altering world. It delivers all the key skills – literacy, numeracy, data handling and ICT – that are useful for further study and future employment. The course is designed to give a clear understanding of both the physical world and the environments in which people live, work and have leisure time. It has strong links with a range of other subjects and can be successfully studied in almost any combination. Hopefully, as well as being useful it is also fun.

Scheme of Assessment

The course has a mixture of coursework and examinations.

There are two examinations which will taken in May or June of Year 11.

Paper 1

A skills based paper which explores understanding and the use of maps and images, and has a choice of topics on physical geography – rivers, glaciers, volcanoes etc. Some of these will be explained using fieldwork, practical work or virtual fieldwork on computers.

Paper 2

This paper has 6 themes from which the students answer 3 questions – Population OR Settlement: Agriculture OR Industry: Resources OR Development. The choice allows the course to be designed to fit the interests of the students in a flexible way. It also means that what is happening in the news, and those topics likely to be of most relevance to students can be studied in detail.

Coursework

There is only one piece of coursework which is done mainly towards the end of Year 10. This involves a locally based enquiry that requires the students to collect fieldwork based data and write a short report. This is worth 25% of the final grade. Both lesson time and homework time are used over a period to try to reduce the pressure on students.

Additional Comments

Because we believe that it is more interesting to study things first hand, where possible some work will be done using fieldwork, examples include visits to the east coast to study coastal processes and tourism. Some students will be able to work using independent learning techniques. Some will also be directly involved in the range of international links the school and the department operate. Able students who select this subject are likely to succeed at very high levels. It is a valuable subject that is well regarded in higher and further education and by employers in a range of careers.

The course is open to all students, whatever their ability, provided they are prepared to work hard. A high percentage of students do reach the A* grade, but we also give less able students the opportunity to succeed.