GEOGRAPHY

Department vision

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.

Years 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