Departments: Geography
Geography is the study of the environment and humans' interactions with it. In geography the students study a wide range of topics, which include:
Year 7 | Integrated humanities course incorporating geography, history and religious studies work. The course also focuses on a skills based approach to learning and becoming an independent learner. Topics include: Who am I?; Where do we belong?; What is my place in the world?; How do we solve a problem like...?; Whose power is it anyway?; How can we Shine? |
Year 8 | European Union, Italy, France, Rivers, Tourism, Industry and Environmental issues |
Year 9 | Planet Earth and plate tectonics, natural disasters and hazards, USA, Japan and development issues |
Year 10 | Urban geography, rivers, coasts and water management. Dol-y-Moch field trip |
Year 11 | Weather and climate, industry, development (including politics and economics of trade between rich and poor countries), rainforests/desert ecosystems. |
Year 12 | Urban, rural, river, coastal, cold and arid environments, energy and tourism issues. |
Year 13 | Environmental issues: earth hazards, ecosystems and climatic hazards.
Economic issues: population, globalisation and development.
Geographical skills: Field work and analysis skills, Dol-y-Moch field trip |
Throughout key stages 3, 4 and 5 the students study a mixture of physical geography (learning how and why the world and landscapes are the shape they are) and human geography (learning how and why people have impacts on the people and places around them). At all stages this can involve debating some challenging issues such as:
- the right of governments to dictate how many children people can have;
- what sacrifices we have to make in order to reduce our own personal carbon footprints;
- how generations of aboriginal people in Australia were lost from their communities.
 In year 7 the students study a range of topics from their own families; to major world religions; to map work; to the origins of people in the UK and Coventry and many many more current and thought provoking topics. The focus is on studying through improving their learning skills with a range of exciting new creative ideas. Please see the humanities page for more detailed information.
Models are a great way to learn and in years 8 and 9 the students make river, volcano and earthquake proof building models. The volcano models are always a big hit as we actually get the volcanoes to erupt!
Almost daily geographical topics are in the news and discussed in the media. We encourage all our students to take an interest in what current geography is happening in the world. A few excellent websites include: the BBC, National Geographic and Global Eye which is specifically geared towards key stage 4 level and is an excellent source and case study and other detailed information.
 We have a 'Geography in the News' notice board where students can bring in information they are interested in and we are very keen to encourage wider appreciation of the world around us. To this end we have run whole school model making and photograph competitions. These have been very well supported and we have received some fantastic entries. Some of the photograph entries including the winning photos can be seen in the geography corridor and model entries can be seen in the library.
Outdoor learning is a passion of all the geography staff and we are lucky enough to be able to take both the GCSE and A-level students on a field trip to Coventry City Council's own field study centre 'Dol-y-Moch' in North Wales. This is an extremely well run and equipped centre and we are very lucky to be able to use it. The students spend time out in the environment studying topics such as natural coastal processes and human management schemes, rural settlements, flooding and sand dune ecosystems. This fieldwork is vital to enhancing the learning opportunities of the students.
Learning in the field is a brilliant way to learn and remember complex new techniques and concepts and in addition to this a lot of fun is had. We are also lucky enough, on our stay at Dol-y-Moch, to be able to spend a day getting involved in some kind of outdoor pursuits. The students have a choice of what activities to get involved in which range from kayaking, abseiling and climbing, orienteering and raft building (always a good opportunity for getting your friends, or perhaps even your teacher, wet!).
Click here to see details about the new Humanities programme
Head of Faculty: Mr Snart
Subject Leader: Mrs Gosling
Mrs Brake
Mr Brown
Mrs Ellis
Mr Clarke
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