Geography at Portchester Community School encourages all students to make links between areas at different scales and in different parts of the world.   Students develop an understanding of how their own lives affect, and are affected by, events and processes in other places.   They are encouraged to develop a questioning approach to the world and to geographical issues – to ask the questions ‘why?’ and ‘how?’ as well as ‘where?’ and ‘what?’   Students are given many opportunities to apply their knowledge and understanding to real issues and problems.

 

Students are encouraged to reflect on their own values, and on their attitudes to a range of social and environmental issues.   They learn to understand how people’s values and attitudes affect decisions, for example about the use of resources and treatment of the environment.   All students are expected to participate in fieldwork in both KS3 and KS4.

In KS3, students learn about:

• Settlement - adapting to future needs
• Environment - from Climate Change to Sustainability
• The Geography of Sport
• Italy - contrasts between North and South
• The Restless Earth - volcanoes and earthquakes
• The Geography of Crime - from local to global
• Tourism - its impact on people and places

In KS4, students who opt for Geography follow the WJEC/OCR ‘Avery Hill’ GCSE course.   This comprises:

 

• Water, Landforms and People - interactions between physical processes and human activities
• People and Place - change and development in urban and rural areas
• People, Work and Development - the geography of economic activities and their environmental impact
• Climate, the Environment and People - interactions between ecosystems, weather and climate, and human activities.

 

Staff teaching Geography in 2010 are:

Mr R Williamson - Subject Leader

Mrs J McMaster

Useful web links:

www.Ordnancesurvey.co.uk/mapzone