Geography

All pupils study Geography in Years 7, 8 and 9 and take-up at GCSE and AS/A Level is growing.

In years 7, 8 and 9 there is a wide-ranging series of courses that begin in the local area and fan out to different environments and into a course of physical geography and hazards in year 9. The GCSE course studies both human and physical geography, stressing the inter-relationships between the two. This theme is followed through in the A Level course when data handling and essay writing skills are developed.

The subject is able to utilise the adjacent computer room which is equipped with multiple PCs, networked and with full internet access. This superb facility guarantees students up-to-date information in a subject that requires accurate knowledge about the world around them.

Each classroom is equipped with blackout, DVD and OHP facilities and interactive whiteboards. The Department owns a carousel slide projector and uses an interactive whiteboard, which is proving invaluable in such an image-rich subject. Students are provided with all textbooks and atlases and these are updated regularly.

Field Work is a major part of the department’s life. Years 8-13 all experience fieldwork relating to either physical or human geography. The GCSE group attends a residential two day trip on the Yorkshire Wolds and the Lower Sixth (year 12) venture either to the River Esk near Whitby or to the Isle of Skye to study rivers and glaciation.