Miss Shaw, Head of Geography, celebrates pupil achievement in her subject and gives an overview of what pupils have been up to in Geography so far this term

The Geography Department have had a busy start to the new school year, with two fieldtrips already having taken place, to Juniper Hall and Margate, for our Year 11 and A Level pupils respectively, which you may have read about in last week’s newsletter.  

I wanted to use this blog as an opportunity to share with you some of the excellent work our pupils have been doing so far this term. 

Our Year 10 pupils have been studying the water cycle, which is part of the River Environments topic they are looking at this half term. They were tasked with creating a 3D model to revise the key stores and transfers of the cycle.  Here are two fabulous efforts from Emily and Martina which both earnt Level 2 merits.   

 In Year 8 pupils are studying our Vanishing Rainforests unit. We began the topic with pupils conducting their own independent research into Tropical Rainforests and Eleni produced a fantastic PowerPoint presentation of her findings which earned her a Level 3 Merit. Here are a few slides from her presentation:  

We then explored together in more depth the climate of the rainforest and the daily weather pattern. Pupils worked together to sequence the statements, and then independently produce a storyboard. Sebastian showed excellent creatively on his storyboard, earning a level 2 merit.  

 In Year 11, our pupils have already completed a timed Paper 1 mock examination. This has provided a useful measure of their current attainment and from this we have together identified areas for improvement. However I wanted to celebrate a few of our Geography high flyers who attained a Grade 9-7. Congratulations to Lucy, Alexander, Jessica, Lawrie, Rory, Tsun Hei and Archibald. 

 Finally, I wanted to celebrate the achievement of our Year 11 geographers last summer. The GCSE Geography results were excellent, and 9 pupils have opted to continue through to A Level. They are a fantastic group.  I asked some of them to share their thoughts on what made them successful at GCSE and here is what they said: 

I think I did well in GCSE as I had a deep understanding of our case studies. That helped me build knowledge about the whole subject – Alex 

What helped me the most was listening in class and discussing the content with friends as revision. My top revision tip is thinking of real life analogies for the geographical processes we studied – Celeste 

I have always enjoyed understanding how the world works and the processes that build the terrain around me. The teachers would always help me expand my knowledge with extra articles and other information- David  

I know that some of our current Year 11 pupils are beginning to think about the Sixth Form options so I also asked why they opted for A Level Geography. Here is what they said: 

I wanted to pick an A Level that I am good at and comfortable with. I got a grade 9 at GCSE so it was an easy choice – Joseph 

I picked Geography because I have a genuine interest in it and I think it teaches us important skills to take into the real world- Jolyon  

Still to come this term, we have the Jaws and Claws workshop for our Year 8 pupils at the end of October, and a day of Coasts fieldwork for our A Level pupils in early November, which we are looking forward to. 

Miss Shaw
Head of Geography