Geography  - it’s a world thing!

Geography at Bootham is quite rightly a popular and vibrant subject that is a common choice for both GCSE and A-level. We believe that Geography is a crucial subject for the new millennium and support the views held by QCA in their document on the new programme of study for KS3 published in March 2007:

The study of Geography stimulates an interest in and a sense of wonder about places.  It helps young people to make sense of a complex and dynamically changing world.  It explains where places are, how places and landscapes are formed, how people and their environments are interconnected.  It builds on pupil’s own experiences to investigate places at all scales, from personal to the global. 

Geographical enquiry encourages questioning, investigation and critical thinking about issues affecting the world and people’s lives, now and in the future.  Fieldwork is an essential element of this.  Pupils learn to think spatially and use maps, visual images and new technologies to obtain, present and analyse information.  Geography inspires pupils to become global citizens by exploring their own place in the world, their values and their responsibilities to other people, to the environment and to the sustainability of the planet.

Scotland October 2007

At Bootham we have a strong commitment to making Geography fun and relevant wherever possible.  We have students from many different countries and cultures and we aim to harness this excellent resource in our classroom for the benefit of all.  We always aim to keep our teaching topical and use the news, newspapers and teaching journals to enhance our lessons and keep them fresh and exciting. 

We also encourage students to share their experiences of geography with us.  Recent examples of this kind of sharing include a Middle School room student bringing in cloud photos from a Sunday supplement; a GCSE student bringing in a ‘What to do in the event of a hurricane’ brochure from a holiday to Florida; a College student bringing in a soil sample from a holiday to Spain and a parent sending in maps and information booklets from a National Park holiday in the USA.

We want geography to become part of every student’s conscience so that what we do in the classroom really comes alive for them.  We aim to raise their awareness of their environment, whatever it might be. 

Geography should never be boring and our commitment to quality teaching as a Department and to the access to fieldwork for all year groups ensures that our students both value and enjoy this amazing subject.

Catbells Summit May 2008

Resources

We are lucky enough to have 5 excellent members of teaching staff in the Department which is in housed in two spacious and well-equipped class rooms.  Both rooms have interactive white boards, DVD, video recorders and computer terminals for student use and a wide selection of textbooks, maps and periodicals. 

New for September 2008 …..

We hope to have an interactive area in both classroom allowing students to observe and handle rock and mineral samples as well as fossils and other geographical artefacts.

Fieldwork

As a department we are committed to taking students on field trips in all years.  We truly believe that the best geography is ‘learnt through the soles of the feet’ and there is a strong tradition of field trips at Bootham. 

Health and safety of pupils is paramount in our planning of trips and risk assessments are usually carried out by Bootham staff for local trips but for trips to field centres we have not visited we usually ask them to provide us with their own up to date risk assessment paper work.  We have our own procedures for travel risk assessments and staff have received training via whole school inset on their responsibilities to children on trips.

Current field trips include visits within the city of York to study Crime, shopping and changing urban geographies, whilst trips further -a-field include GCSE students visiting the Lake District and AS level students visiting the Aigas Centre near Inverness or the Eagles Nest in the Cevennes National Park in France.

The conference this year centred on the 'River Basin Game' developed by Dr. Bruce Lankford from University of East Anglia and was based around managing dwindling water resources in Tanzania.

Field Sketching May 2008

Scotland October 2007

Curriculum

Year 7-9

Currently the schemes of work loosely follow the National curriculum at KS3 and it is proposed in the 2008 Development plan to refresh these for September 2008 and keep them in line with the changes to the Geography Curriculum published in March 2007.  Whilst we see the need to keep abreast of the national changes in the curriculum so that we do not disadvantage students at GCSE level (or higher) we also value the opportunity to teach away from the nationally prescribed materials. 

Topic areas include:

• map work skills
• volcanoes and earthquakes
• settlement
• weather and climate
• the geographies of shopping and crime
• Brazil
• Development
• Population
• Globalisation
• The local area

'Problem Solving and Thinking Skills' in the classroom

GCSE

Currently we follow the AQA syllabus C, issues based course. 

In Year 10 we teach the ‘Managing Physical environment’ unit starting with hurricanes to tie in with the storm season in the USA and in the Spring term we begin the ‘Managing change in the human environment’ unit focusing on changes in the urban environment.  In the summer term we prepare students for their field work experience and following their trip we concentrate lesson time on coursework.  An A5-sized guidance booklet is issued to all students when they return from the field trip and it is hoped that this acts as a ‘bible’ for their coursework write-up.

In Year 11 we complete the Human environment unit and after mock examinations in January we complete the course with the ‘Managing economic environment’ unit.  Coursework is submitted finally on the first lesson back following the February half term and is internally assessed and moderated by all GCSE staff.  Despite the content-heavy course staff have time to use past papers and mark schemes with groups to ensure good examination preparation. 

AS/A2 level

The 2007-09 cohort of students are the last group to follow the AQA syllabus A course.   From September 2008 we will be following the new AQA syllabus.

Course content

The course will be assessed by four module examinations, two taken at the end of College One leading to AS Geography.  These with the other two modules taken at the end of College Two complete the full A-level course.

AS-level Modules

Core Modules

• Rivers, floods and management
• Global population change

Students will also study two further units, one physical geography option and one human geography option from the following choices:

Assessment at AS level will take the form of a 2 hour examination on Physical and Human Geography (GEOG1) and a 1 hour examination (GEOG2) based on geographical skills and generic field work questions.

A2-level Modules

Students will study a total of four units two from the Physical options and two from the Human options.

Assessment at A2 level will consist of a 2  hour examination (GEOG3) consisting of both short answer and essay questions and a 1  hour examination (GEOG4B) based on an Advance Information Booklet evaluating a geographical issue.

Wider links

Bootham is used as a lecture venue for both the Royal Geographical Society and the York Branch of the Geographical Association.  The programme of lectures is extensive and topical.  Recent subjects have included Air pollution in the 21st Century, The Transformation of Leeds and China, diversity and Ice-Volcano Interactions.  The popular Sixth Form day conference is held every March and is run by specialists who deal with important geographical issues on a daily basis

Geography is a challenging and vibrant subject that helps equip our young citizens for the future.  If you have any queries about Geography please contact the Department and we will be happy to help you.

Always remember  - Geography rocks!!