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Specialising in Health, Care and Medical Sciences

Geography

Petchey Academy Geography Department
 
‘Geography is a subject which holds the key to our future’.
Michael Palin (English comedian, writer, actor and television presenter).
         
The Geography Department at the Petchey Academy strives to be a collaborative and innovative department which will continually evolve to meet the needs of the twenty first century learner. We believe geography to be both an exciting and dynamic subject, and a subject with growing importance in a rapidly changing world. Our learners will be taught the subject through a combination of traditional teaching, and project work. The project teaching will be student centred, and designed to engage students by providing them the chance to use their multiple intelligences to tackle open ended problems. Teaching in such a way will provide the opportunity to ensure extensive coverage of the curriculum whilst engaging students with a deeper learning experience and a chance to develop their personal learning targets (PLTs).   We will also strive to build business and community links through giving students an ‘adult connection’, this will involve inviting adults into school to pass on their expertise or to act as an audience for student work.
 
Work in school will be further complimented by conducting geographical field work both around and out of school. The department strongly believe the ‘outdoor classroom’ is an integral part of successful geography teaching as it provides students with a connection to the world they are studying. It also helps them develop their own personal skill set by nurturing employable skills such as collaboration, teamwork and rigour.
 
The department will also endeavour to complement the ethos of the Human Spirit and the Petchey Academy as a whole. This will include teaching the geography of healthcare and medicine, and looking at issues such as; health disparity around the world and how diseases spread in an increasingly global world.
Geography at Key stage 3
Following the thematic approach of the academy, geography at key stage 3 is a thought provoking subject that develops investigative skills to be applied to the world around us, both natural and human.
Pupils are taught about different places, geographical patterns and processes, and how these interact with human activity. They develop a spatial awareness at different scales and complete work on many different current issues. As such, a lot of emphasis is put on developing an understanding of people’s values and attitudes and how these affect contemporary social, environmental, economic and political issues. Pupils are also taught about environmental change and how to make our world and ways of life more sustainable. Geography hopes to develop a global consciousness in students to help them become confident citizens of the world. 

 Geography at Key stage 4

At key stage 4 students study the OCR B exam specification which is organized as follows:

·        Sustainable Decision Making Exam (25% of course taken in June Year 10 or January Year 11)

·         Controlled Assessment; Two pieces, one based on fieldwork (12.5%) and one geographical investigation (12.5%) (25% total)

·         Geographical Themes (50% taken at end of year 11)

Click here for an outline of Key Stage 4 Geography

The three units provide opportunities for candidates to give evidence of a range of geographical skills.

The Sustainable Decision Making exercise will be based on pre-released material linked to one of the four key themes and will develop real-life skills relevant to future decision making.
Fieldwork and issues analysis required for the Controlled Assessment unit focus on the development of an enquiry and its associated skills in the context of fieldwork and nine geographical themes (Disease, Trade, Ecosystems, Sport, Fashion, Energy, New Technologies, Crime and Tourism).
The final unit requires an understanding of three of the four key themes assessed through a written examination.
This specification has highly relevant content that will give candidates access to modern world issues at a range of scales, from local to global. It also provides a clear structure that will allow constructive teaching and learning. The specification will allow us to deliver a varied yet manageable programme, which can include modern resources, innovative ideas and up-to-date teaching methods.

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