Geography - Topic Areas

Locations studied in Y7 to Y11

Y7 also learn graphical techniques and how to collect raw data as the traffic count below shows.

The closeness to the main access to Grimsby town centre gives an excellent fieldwork opportunity.


Y8 - concentrates on different environments and the major area of study is the Amazon.  The study of this major biome allows for links with Science and there is also opportunity for a study of a developing country - Brazil.  This is the first opportunity that pupils have to develop their appreciation of issues worldwide such as endangered species and development.  A contrast environment is studied through deserts and then the exploration and exploitation of oil.  Egypt provides another country study and the Nile leads into work on rivers in general. This gives pupils the opportunity to study some physical geography leading on to issues of management. The floods at Lynton and Lynmouth and now Boscastle give excellent case study scenarios.

A youthful river in the Lake District allows you to note the steep
fall and the waterfall as the harder rock provide
an obstacle to erosion.

Y9 - has as its theme, development and this is aimed at increasing the pupils' awareness of the similarities and the differences between countries and that there are numerous ways to evaluate and measure these.

Japan is one focus for a place study as it is a developed nation despite its considerable physical disadvantages.  Pupils explore how this has been achieved.  France is also studied in some aspects as this links in with language work.  Globalisation is a theme running through the course and topics of fashion and tourism give many opportunities for discussion.

Y10 & Y11 - follow a place based GCSE course and pupils are examined with two examinations by the AQA.  Coursework accounts for 25% of the final mark and this is prepared in the latter half of Y10 using the centre of Grimsby as the base for data collection. 

Y10 work concentrates on themes around the UK and we are especially well placed as one topic to be studied is the Humber Bank chemical industry. 

In Y11 the areas chosen on the specification are spread across the globe to cover aspects of modern geography such as development (Amazon and Calcutta), urbanisation (Paris and Calcutta), climatic considerations (Spanish tourism and farming in the Mezzogiorno) and the global themes of energy use
and its impact.

Y12 & Y13 - are the years when AS and A2 are studied.  There are students in most years who follow a traditionally based geography course set by the specification of the AQA.  During the one or two years of the course students develop their analytical skills and the emphasis is on case study work to illustrate the themes covered.  Fieldwork is done in Y12 as a preparation for an individual piece of research in Y13.  To aid the development of practical skills students are encouraged to take part in a residential field course.

Below: Y12 carrying out a functional survey in Laceby.

As a subject at this level geography provides an all round set of skills that blend well with other combinations – former pupils have taken geography at degree level or have used it to enhance their studies in environmental studies, law, business studies and estate management as well as teaching.