Geography

Autumn  

Map skills 

Securing knowledge and skills from KS2, students will gain a sense of place and understand their geographical location within the wider world. 

Key things they will learn or be able to do by the end of the unit: 

• Describe location and direction 
• 4- and 6- figure grid references 
• Scale and distance 
• Relief 

Introduction to global climate  

Building on their knowledge from KS2 of climate and the atmosphere, students will gain an understanding of the causes and impacts of climate change and what they can do as geographers to reduce the impacts.   

Key things they will learn or be able to do by the end of the unit:  

• Locate the world’s climate zones and biomes  
• Explain the causes of climate change (including the enhanced greenhouse effect)  
• Explain the impacts of climate change  
• Explain how humans should make changes to mitigate climate change  
•  

Development 

Introduction to the differences in income across the world. This will create a foundation to build on in KS3 & KS4 when studying different human and physical processes. 

Key things they will learn or be able to do by the end of the unit: 

• Explain levels of development 
• How to reduce the development gap 

Spring 

Rivers 

Students will be introduced to how physical processes shape the land. They will build on the previous units by linking this to levels of economic development and identifying river features on maps. 

Key things they will learn or be able to do by the end of the unit: 

• River landforms 
• Causes and impacts of flooding 
• River management strategies 

Summer 

World at Work  

Students will investigate examples of work in each sector of the economy. Students will also identify the factors that influence the location of different industries and trade between countries.  

Key things they will learn or be able to do by the end of the unit:  

• The different employment sectors  
• Where industries are located and why  
• The environmental, social and economic issues with different industries  

Fieldwork  

Students will be introduced to how fieldwork investigations are conducted. Students will also participate in their own fieldwork investigation on the school site.  

Key things they will learn or be able to do by the end of the unit:  

• Key stages of a geographical fieldwork investigation  
• How to present data on graphs 
• How to use data to answer enquiry questions  

Autumn  

Tectonics 

Introduction to the rock cycle and rock types 

Key things they will learn or be able to do by the end of the unit 

• Tectonic plates 
• Types of plate margins 
• How tectonic hazards form 
• How to reduce the impacts of tectonic hazards 

Spring  

Population 

Building on Development in Y7. Large focus on birth rate and death rate and migration. 

Key things they will learn or be able to do by the end of the unit 

Population distribution (globally and in the UK) 

Factors influencing the distribution 

Population changes 

Population graphs  

Ageing population 

Migration 

Summer  

Coasts 

Students build up on the types of rocks learnt in the tectonic topic. Re-visit processes learnt in Y7 Rivers. 

Key things they will learn or be able to do by the end of the unit 

• Erosional processes and landforms 
• Depositional processes and landforms 
• Coastal erosion – causes and management. 
• Bournemouth coastal management 

Autumn 

Life in NEE 

Building on knowledge of population and development, students will examine the rapid economic growth of the world’s newly emerging economies. 

Key things they will learn or be able to do by the end of the unit: 

• Common characteristics of NEEs 
• Causes and impacts of rapid economic development in NEEs 
• Challenges and opportunities in Nigeria 

Spring  

Climate Change 

All KS3 students will study the importance of climate change. This unit builds on all the students prior learning in KS3 and enables all students to learn about a pressing global issue. 

Key things they will learn or be able to do by the end of the unit 

• Causes of climate change 
• Impacts of climate change 
• Responses to climate change – adaptation vs mitigation 

Summer 

Resources 

Building on students understanding of how and why the physical and economic world has changed, they will apply their knowledge to the resources. This means students understand the issues around resource availability and can make informed decisions around resource consumption. 

• Resources on a global scale 
• Resources in the UK 
• Management of resources in the UK 
• Large scale water management 
• Small scale and sustainable water use  

Autumn 

AQA GCSE: Living World & Economic World 

Students build on knowledge from Y9 climate by looking at the rainforest and desert ecosystems, taking this further to explore the impact of human activity in these environments. 

Key things they will learn in this unit: 

• Ecosystems 
• Tropical rainforest characteristics 
• Impacts of deforestation (Borneo) 
• Sustainable rainforest management 
• Hot desert characteristics 
• Development in the Thar Desert creates challenges and opportunities 
• Desertification 

AQA GCSE: The Changing Economic World – Economic development 

Students revisit the fundamental principles of economic geography that will help support their learning about different types of countries throughout the GCSE course. 

• Key things they will learn in this unit: 
• Development indicators 
• Demographic transition model 
• Strategies to reduce the development gap 
• Review of development in Nigeria 
•  

Spring 

AQA Physical Landscapes in the UK (coasts) 

Students revisit a topic studied in Y8 and look at processes and landforms in more detail through a range of local case studies along the Jurassic coast and in Bournemouth.   

Key things they will learn in this unit: 

• Coastal processes 
• Coastal landforms of erosion and deposition 
• Coastal management in Bournemouth 

AQA Urbanisation and Urban Issues in the UK 

This unit builds on their understanding of how economic geography affects cities in different countries, including the largest city in the South West, Bristol.   

Key things they will learn in this unit: 

• UK cities 
• Urban change in Bristol 
• Opportunities and challenges for urban change in Bristol 
• Review of urban change in Lagos, Nigeria 

Summer 

AQA Human and Physical Fieldwork 

This unit builds on their knowledge of tourism and coasts from earlier in the year as students collect data in the field.    

Key things they will learn in this unit: 

• Setting a suitable question or hypothesis and understanding the risks 
• Data collection, presentation and analysis techniques 
• Reaching conclusions 
• Evaluating the extent to which the results and conclusions are accurate and reliable  

AQA GCSE: Atmospheric Hazards 

Students build on knowledge from previous units on tectonics and climate to understand how tropical storms form. 

Key things they will learn in this unit: 

• Types of hazards 
• Tropical storm formation 
• Responding to tropical storms 
• Extreme weather 
• Extreme weather in the UK 

Autumn 

AQA GCSE: Tectonic Hazards 

Students build on knowledge from previous units from Y7 and 8 to explore ways in which communities and governments can reduce vulnerability.   

Key things they will learn in this unit: 

• Physical processes that cause earthquakes and volcanoes 
• Effects and responses in contrasting locations 
• Management to reduce the effects 

AQA GCSE: Physical Landscapes in the UK – Rivers 

Revisiting a previous unit in more depth and studying a contrasting case study, students explore the impact of river processes on people and the environment. 

Key things they will learn in this unit: 

• The processes that cause a river to change downstream 
• Landforms created by these processes 
• River management strategies 
• A case study of a flood management scheme 

Spring 

AQA The Changing Economic World – Economic Futures in the UK 

Students look at a range of complex and controversial issues facing the UK, using skills and understanding developed over the entire course. 

Key things they will learn in this unit: 

• Causes of economic change in the UK 
• The post-industrial economy 
• Transport infrastructure improvements 
• The north-south divide 
• Links with the wider world (the European Union and Commonwealth) 

Summer 

AQA: The Pre-release 

Students receive a resource booklet from the exam board in which they will apply their learning from across the course to prepare for the exam where they will be asked to decide and justify it using geographical understanding. 

• Key things they will learn in this unit 
• Analysis, critical thinking and problem-solving skills 
• Content changes each year, released end of March by the exam board 

More links to possible careers on the Royal Geographical Society website here

Urban planner 

Risk analyst 

Environment Agency 

Corporate social responsibility manager 

Meteorologist 

Nature conservation officer 

Climate scientist 

Cabin crew 

Transport consultant 

Seismologist 

Revision Guides 

• GCSE Geography AQA Revision Guide (with Online Edition): perfect for the 2023 and 2024 exams (CGP AQA GCSE Geography) : CGP Books, CGP Books: Amazon.co.uk: Books 
• GCSE 9-1 Geography AQA Revision Guide: With all you need to know for your 2022 assessments (GCSE Geography AQA 2016): Amazon.co.uk: Bayliss, Tim, Tudor, Rebecca, Hurst, Catherine, Digby, Bob: 9780198423461: Books 

Academic Reading 

Rivers: https://timeforgeography.co.uk/video-collections/rivers/ 

Coasts: https://timeforgeography.co.uk/video-collections/coasts/ 

Development & population: Nepal-Qatar migration news article Revealed: 6,500 migrant workers have died in Qatar since World Cup awarded | Workers' rights | The Guardian 

Urban Issues: https://www.physicsandmathstutor.com/geography-revision/gcse-aqa/urban-issues-and-challenges/ 

Ecosystems: https://www.coolgeography.co.uk/gcsen/living_world.php 

Climate change: https://www.internetgeography.net/topics/climate-change/ 

Other Links (social media, YouTube) 

GWgeography on Instagram