At Mount St Joseph, we believe a high-quality geography education will inspire in students a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. Teaching at Mount St Joseph’s equips students with knowledge about diverse places, people, natural and human environments, and resources together with a deepening understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes. As students progress in geography at Mount St Joseph, their growing knowledge about the world should help them to develop their understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes, of the formation and use of landscapes and environments, and help student’s explain how the Earth’s features at different scales are shaped, interconnected and change over time.
 

Year 7

Term 1a: Introduction to Geography unit – allowing students to develop their geographical skills through exploring a range of different map skills.

Term 1b: Tectonic hazards and processes – allowing students to develop their geographical knowledge of tectonic processes and hazards.

Term 2a: Weather and climate– allowing students to develop their geographical knowledge of the differences between weather and climate, different weather systems in the UK and how we measure, record and present weather data.

Term 2b: Ecosystems– allowing students to develop their geographical knowledge of some of the major world biomes such as tropical rainforests, hot deserts and tundra.

Term 3a Coastal environments– allowing students to develop their geographical knowledge of UK coastal processes, landforms and management strategies. 

Term 3b River environments– allowing students to develop their geographical knowledge of UK river processes, landforms and management strategies. 

 

Year 8

Term 1a: Urban environments– allowing students to develop their geographical knowledge in the growth of cities and megacities across the world and the opportunities and challenges such growth can bring.

Term 1a: Development and economy – allowing students to develop their geographical knowledge in the causes, consequnces and strategies for managing uneven development.

Term 2a: Africa– allowing students to develop their geographical knowledge of the human, physical and environmental geography across the African continent.

Term 2b: Asia– allowing students to develop their geographical knowledge of the human, physical and environmental geography across the Asian continent.

Term 3a: Middle East– allowing students to develop their geographical knowledge of human, physical and environmental geography across the Middle East.

Term 3b: Russia – allowing students to develop their geographical knowledge of human, physical and environmental geography across Russia and discuss the emergence of Russia as a potential super power.

 

Year 9

Term 1a: Global issues (1)– allowing students to develop their geographical knowledge about the causes, consequences and management of global issues such as plastic pollution, climate change, biodiversity criss and water conflict.

Term 1b: Global issues (2)– allowing students to develop their geographical knowledge about the causes, consequences and management of global issues such as energy resources and crisis, waste and E-waste and global fast fashion.

Term 2a: UK environmental issues allowing students to develop their geographical knowledge about UK environmental issues such as urban heat islands, air quality,  water drainage systems and waste.

Term 2b: UK environmental enquiryallowing students to develop their geographical knowledge about real UK developments linked to energy and water resources and make well justified decisions about whether they should go ahead.

Term 3a: Fieldwork students to develop their geographical skills linked to fieldwork by undertaking the collection, presentation, analysis and evaluatiomn of geographical data linked to a physical and human area of study.

Term 3b: Geographical innovation  students to develop their geographical knowledge of a real world issue and use creative thinking to devise solutions.

 

For each half-term there is a Knowledge Expert Sheet which outlines the essential knowledge that all students in Year 7, 8 and 9 need to know.

 

Year 7

True Stories of Desert Adventures: Usborne True Stories - Mount St Joseph (eplatform.co)

True Stories of Polar Adventures: Usborne True Stories - Mount St Joseph (eplatform.co)
 

Year 8

The Almighty Dollar - Darshini David

China's Asian Dream -Tom Millar

Kick - Mitch Johnson

Prisoners of Geography - Tim Marshall

 

Year 9

The story of more - Hope Johnson

A life on our planet - David Attenborough

When the rivers run dry - Fred Pearce

There is no planet B - Mike Berners-Lee

Students also demonstrate their depth of knowledge by completing their Knowledge Expert Books.

At Mount St Joseph, we believe a high-quality geography education will inspire in students a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. Teaching of Geography at Mount St Joseph’s follows the AQA specification which allows for a variety of teaching and learning approaches. This exciting and relevant course studies geography in a balanced framework of physical and human themes and investigates the link between them. Students will travel the world from their classroom, exploring case studies in the United Kingdom (UK), higher income countries (HICs), newly emerging economies (NEEs), and lower income countries (LICs). Topics of study include: climate change, poverty, deprivation, global shifts in economic power, and the challenge of sustainable resource use. Students are also encouraged to understand their role in society by considering different viewpoints, values and attitudes.

 

Year 10

Term 1a: AQA Paper 1 section A – The challenges of natural hazards– allowing students to develop their geographical knowledgeand skills in relation to topics including: tectonic processes, tropical storms, UK extreme weather events and climate change.

Term 1b: AQA Paper 1 Section B – living worlds – tropical rainforests– allowing students to develop their geographical knowledge and skills in relation to global ecosystem distribution,  interrelationships and natural systems within ecosystems, the physical charactertistics, species adaptations, causes, effects and responses to deforestation within tropical rainforests.

Term 2a: AQA Paper 1 Section B living worlds – hot deserts - allowing students to develop their geographical knowledge  and skills about location, climate, physical characteristics, adaptations, economic opportunities, economic challenges and the causes, impacts and responses to desertification within hot desert environments.

Term 2b: AQA Paper 1 Section C UK physical landscapes coasts - allowing students to develop their geographical knowledge and skills of different coastal waves, coastal processes, coastal landforms and coastal management strategies.

Term 3a: AQA Paper 3 Section B - Fieldwork- students to develop their geographical knowledge and skills when carrying out two enquiries in contrasting environments to develop their understanding of human and physical geography, as well as the interaction ebtweem them.

Term 3b: AQA Paper 1 Section C UK physical landscapes rivers - students to develop their geographical knowledge and skills about the long and cross river profiles, river processes, river landforms and river management startegies.

 

Year 11

Term 1a: AQA Paper 2 section A – Urban issues and challenges– students to develop their geographical knowledge and skills about global patterns of urban change, detailed case studies of a city in a NEE and the UK and the impacts of urban growth and features or sustainable urban development.

Term 1b: AQA Paper 2 Section B – The changing economic world – allowing students to develop their geographical knowledge and skills in relation to how we measure economic development, causes, consequences and strategies to reduce uneven development. A detailed case study of a NEE to explore the impacts of rapid economic development. How majors changes to the UK economy impact employment and regional growth.  

Term 2a: AQA Paper 2 Section B – The changing economic world – allowing students to develop their geographical knowledge and skills in relation to how we measure economic development, causes, consequences and strategies to reduce uneven development. A detailed case study of a NEE to explore the impacts of rapid economic development. How majors changes to the UK economy impact employment and regional growth.  

Term 2a: AQA Paper 2 Section C  - Resource management and Food - allowing students to develop their geographical knowledge and skills about how food, water and energy are fundamental to human development and how chanign demands and provision of resources in the UK create opportunities and challenges. Students then learn about global patterns of calorie intake and explore the causes, consquences and responses to food insecurity.

Term 2b: AQA Paper 3 Section A  - Issue evaluation - students to develop their geographical knowledge and skills about a particular geographical issue, consider points of views of different stakeholders involved and make a well justified decision.

 

For each half-term there is a Knowledge Expert Sheet which outlines the essential knowledge that all students in Year 10 and 11 need to know.

Year 10

Revision Guide Second Edition (GCSE 9-1 Geography AQA) by Rebecca Tudor, Tim Bayliss, et al.

Year 11

Revision Guide Second Edition (GCSE 9-1 Geography AQA) by Rebecca Tudor, Tim Bayliss, et al.

Students demonstrate their depth of knowledge by completing their Knowledge Expert Books.