Welcome to the Geography Department at Waddesdon Church of England School

Head of Geography

Matt Barrett

Teachers

Susan Enevoldsen  Tanya Simpson

Subject Overview
Teaching Aims and Objectives
Course Information
Marking and Assessment
Homework Policy
Examinations
Department Resources
Department Policies

Subject Overview

Key Stage 3

Students are taught modules that provide a better understanding of the world in which they live. They study a range of locations around the world and focus on major geographical issues that are becoming increasingly important in today’s world. A balance is maintained between the study of physical and human geography.

Key Stage 4

The course followed allows students to develop their knowledge of geographical topics and focuses on the management of geographical issues.

Key Stage 5

The AS and A Level course encourages students to deepen their geographical knowledge and understanding as well as to develop their geographical skills. The final synoptic A Level unit requires students to draw on all their previous studies of the subject.

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Teaching Aims and Objectives

The Department aims to engage and inspire students to be passionate about the world in which they live. Students are also taught skills which will be relevant to their future working lives.

Students learn to be effective problem-solvers and critical thinkers. They are required to evaluate a range of resources and to recommend solutions. Students are encouraged to question critically in order to develop their research skills and in order to analyse geographical issues more objectively. Naturally, their literacy and numeracy skills develop in tandem.

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Course Information

The following topics are studied:

Key Stage 3

Key Stage 4: GCSE

Key Stage 5: AS Level

Key Stage 5: A2 Level

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Marking and Assessment

Students’ work is marked regularly to acknowledge effort, knowledge, understanding and development of independent learning.

Marking takes two forms:

Contact marking is intended to check that all work has been completed with appropriate effort by the students. Geography teachers do not formally grade this work, but will offer encouragement and may point out grammatical errors or give directions to improve the presentation of the notes.

Formative assessment is intended to give specific advice to each individual student. At Key Stage 3, this form of marking is usually part of the extended writing process. When students write an extended task, they are given a marking sheet that gives advice on how they should mark their own work. In addition, this work is then marked by the teacher who gives specific advice on how to improve it. This work is marked to National Curriculum grades and the students record their progress on a personal record sheet. At GCSE and AS/A Level, essays and examination work are marked in a similar way. Work is marked according to the Examination Board’s marking criteria.

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Homework Policy

Students in Years 7 and 8 are set homework once a week. Students will be expected to do research relevant to the topics being studied.

GCSE students are set homework once a week to meet the demands of the course. There may be occasions when more homework is necessary.

AS/A Level students are expected to support their study with extra research and wider reading. This is in addition to essays set.

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Examinations

GCSE

AQA A Specification for Geography .

Students take two examinations and produce one piece of coursework.

Paper 1 – (1 ¾ hours) People and the Natural Environment (Physical Geography) worth 40% of the GCSE

Paper 2 – (1 ½ hours) People and the Human Environment (Human Geography

Coursework – 2500 words based on a study of the River Chess

AS/A Level

Edexcel A Specification for Geography.

Students take two exams at AS Level and three exams at A2.

AS

A2

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Department Resources

The Geography Department is well-resourced, with a bank of resources which engage and inspire students. As Geography is a highly visual subject, there is an excellent bank of photographic resources and all staff have laptops with access to data projectors. This enables access to the growing supply of on-line resources such as Google Earth. DVD resources are being expanded.

The Department is well supplied with course textbooks and has an extensive research library to support wider reading and investigation. Students taking GCSE and AS/A Level are required to buy their own copy of their specification textbook to act as a first point of reference for their private study.

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Department Policies

Exercise Books

Students are issued with exercise books. They are expected to treat these with respect. The Geography Department expects students to follow these guidelines:

Writing

Students are taught to use a variety of written styles, ranging from formal extended writing to note-taking. The Geography Department believes that it is vital for students to be able to write effectively to succeed academically. Extended writing is a key skill that helps students to develop their thinking. In written work, students adhere to the following guidelines:

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