Key Stage 3 Geography
Across three years, Geography takes pupils from the landscapes and communities on our doorstep to some of the world’s most dynamic regions and pressing challenges. Coasts, rivers and natural hazards sit alongside economies, populations and climate change, while studies of Africa, Asia, Russia and the Middle East develop a richer understanding of an interconnected world.
The curriculum is built around geographical enquiry: asking questions, investigating places and processes, interpreting evidence and reaching informed conclusions. Physical and human geography are deliberately connected, developing secure knowledge of locations and places alongside an understanding of the processes and interactions that shape them. Map work, data analysis, fieldwork and critical thinking are woven throughout rather than treated as separate skills. Each unit is framed by a significant geographical question, each year includes a fieldwork enquiry rooted in Felixstowe, and the course builds progressively towards the demands of GCSE Geography.
Year 7
| Term | unit knowledge & skills
(the order and pace of units may change to suit the needs of our current students.) |
|---|---|
| Autumn 1 |
What is Geography? Where are we in the world, and how do geographers make sense of it? The course begins by building a confident global picture through continents, oceans and countries before introducing latitude and longitude, OS maps, scale and grid references. Along the way, the changing ways in which people have explored, mapped and understood our planet reveal Geography as a subject of discovery as well as place. |
| Autumn 2 |
Natural Resources How do we use our planet as a natural resource? A journey from geological time, rocks and soils to water, oil and energy reveals how closely human life is connected to Earth’s natural systems. Renewable and non-renewable resources are weighed against one another, introducing one of Geography’s most important ideas: how can we meet our needs sustainably? |
| Spring 1 |
Weather & Climate What is the difference between weather and climate — and why is British weather so changeable? Depressions and anticyclones provide the key to understanding the UK’s weather, while weather charts, satellite images and climate graphs turn forecasts and measurements into geographical evidence that can be interpreted and explained. |
| Spring 2 |
Africa is not a Country Africa is a continent of extraordinary physical and human diversity, not a single story. This unit challenges stereotypes by moving across climate zones and biomes, investigating desertification, development and rapid urbanisation, and considering how the legacy of colonialism continues to influence parts of the continent today. The result is a more complex and informed picture of the challenges and opportunities found across Africa. |
| Summer 1 |
Coasts What happens where the sea meets the land? Powerful processes of erosion and deposition combine with geology to create distinctive coastal landscapes and continually reshape them. The unit then turns to a very real geographical dilemma: when coastlines are changing, where, why and how should they be protected? |
| Summer 2 |
Fieldwork: Felixstowe’s Coastal Defences Felixstowe becomes the classroom for a first fieldwork enquiry. Its coastal defences provide an opportunity to investigate Geography first-hand: gathering evidence in the field, presenting findings through maps, charts and graphs, identifying patterns and evaluating how successfully the investigation answers the original question. |
Year 8
| Term | unit knowledge & skills
(the order and pace of units may change to suit the needs of our current students.) |
|---|---|
| Autumn 1 & Autumn 2 |
Natural Hazards Are natural disasters really natural? Beginning with the 1953 North Sea flood in Felixstowe connects a major historical hazard directly to the local area before the enquiry expands worldwide. Earthquakes, volcanoes, tropical storms and extreme UK weather reveal how physical processes become human disasters, while Haiti 2010, Japan 2011 and Cyclone Idai in Mozambique allow contrasting responses to be compared. The unit also considers how a changing climate is altering the frequency or intensity of some hazards. |
| Spring 1 |
Economy & Development What is development, and why is it so uneven? From the jobs people do to the goods that cross international borders, this unit uncovers how economies work and how globalisation connects places. Measures of development, inequality and international trade lead to a bigger question: what can countries and organisations do to create fairer and more sustainable development? The Sustainable Development Goals provide one important framework for considering possible answers. |
| Spring 2 |
Asia & Russia Two vast and contrasting parts of the world provide the focus for this regional study. Across Asia, monsoon climates, flooding, population structures and growing importance in world trade reveal rapid change and global connections. Attention then turns to Russia, the world’s largest country, where continental climate, taiga and tundra demonstrate how enormous distances and extreme cold influence resources, settlement and everyday life. |
| Summer 1 |
Rivers Why are rivers important, and why do they sometimes become dangerous? Following water through the hydrological cycle and drainage basin reveals how erosion, transportation and deposition sculpt river landscapes. Flooding and its management bring physical processes and human decision-making together, supported by practical geographical skills including OS map interpretation and valley cross-sections. |
| Summer 2 |
Fieldwork: Economy & Development in Felixstowe Felixstowe provides a local case study for investigating ideas first encountered in Economy and Development. An enquiry into the town’s economy requires careful planning and first-hand data collection before evidence is presented, patterns are interpreted and methods are evaluated — applying classroom Geography to a familiar real-world place. |
Year 9
| Term | unit knowledge & skills
(the order and pace of units may change to suit the needs of our current students.) |
|---|---|
| Autumn 1 |
Populations Changing One planet, many people: how and why are populations changing? Patterns of population distribution, growth, migration and urbanisation reveal a world in constant movement. Population pyramids, density maps and the Demographic Transition Model help explain these changes, while contrasting population policies encourage consideration of how different countries respond to demographic challenges. |
| Autumn 2 |
The Middle East Why is the Middle East such an important world region? Contrasting desert and Mediterranean climates lead into questions of water scarcity, oil, development and global interdependence. Migration and conflict are considered through their causes and consequences, with different viewpoints examined critically to build a more nuanced understanding of a diverse and frequently oversimplified region. |
| Spring 1 |
Ice and How It Changes the World How does ice change the world? Ice sheets and glaciers have transformed landscapes on a vast scale, leaving distinctive evidence behind them. Glacial erosion, transportation and deposition explain how these landscapes formed, while OS maps, cross-sections and scientific evidence help trace a much more contemporary story: how and why the world’s glaciers are changing today. |
| Spring 2 |
Climate Change What is the future for our planet? The science of greenhouse gases provides the starting point for examining the connections between energy use, economic growth, population change and a warming climate. UK flood risk brings the issue closer to home, while evaluating evidence, recognising bias and debating possible responses encourages informed thinking about one of the defining geographical challenges of our time. |
| Summer 1 |
GCSE Bridge Unit The final year begins to bridge Key Stage 3 and GCSE through an early GCSE unit in either Natural Hazards or Urbanisation. Familiar geographical ideas are revisited at greater depth and with increasing analytical demand, making the progression into GCSE visible and purposeful rather than a sudden change at the start of Year 10. |
| Summer 2 |
Fieldwork: Rivers Where circumstances allow, the course concludes by returning to rivers through fieldwork. Building on the Year 8 Rivers unit, a river enquiry develops confidence in planning, data collection, presentation, interpretation and evaluation — the same enquiry process that will become central to GCSE fieldwork. |