KS3 Geography

Our aim is to ensure students will be informed, engaged, and active Global Citizens. The world is an ever changing and ever more complicated place. Geographers at Ashton Park will be able to identify the opportunities and challenges that face the world and suggest solutions to help manage it. We want students to engage with this by investigating how the natural world works, how humans interact with the world, and the impacts they have on the environment. We want them to ask questions about the world and develop the range of skills needed to allow them to explore it in the classroom and beyond so wherever life takes them they can be confident global citizens.

Year 7	Year 8	Year 9
Content: Year 7 focusses on a ‘History of Earth’. Right from Earth's early days as a hot hell, through the dinosaurs, mass extinctions and finally to humans wandering out of Africa and colonising the world which we see today. Physical Geography processes are focussed on along with place specific knowledge throughout the year.	Content: Year 8 focuses on building on the knowledge of Year 7 and investigating several key themes of Geography including Earth's physical processes, urban areas, development and natural hazards.	Content: Year 9 focuses on building on the knowledge of Year 7 and Year 8 and investigating several key themes of Geography including Earth's physical processes, Biomes, urban areas, development, resource management and natural hazards.
Skills: Describing phenomena and map skills.	Skills: Explaining phenomena, map skills and graphical skills.	Skills: Evaluating viewpoints and ideas using evidence, map skills, numeracy and graphical skills.
The Earth's Beginnings Students learn about how the Earth was created and geological time. Along the way students interact with dinosaur adaptations, mass extinction events and the Earth's changing climate. Knowledge organiser The Earth's Biomes Through an in-depth look at Africa students investigate Earth's different natural biomes, their characteristics, climate, fauna and flora. Knowledge organiser Humans on Planet Earth After billions of years of Earth's History humans finally evolve and make it out of Africa. Students follow these nomadic people through their migration to colonise the Earth and build the world’s earliest cities. The Continents Now that humans have colonised the Earth we take an in-depth look into each individual continent to investigate their countries physical geography and development. Knowledge organiser The UK Both the UK's human and physical geography is investigated with a closer look as to how the UK has developed over the years and the characteristics of its urban and rural areas Bristol Through an investigation of their local area students learn many of the key geographical skills they need to interpret maps and geographical data. Knowledge organiser	Dangerous Planet Our planet is a dangerous place. Using prior knowledge of Physical Geography the students investigate the inner workings of Earth and explore some of its most dangerous events including earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis. Knowledge organiser History of Globalisation The world has become an increasingly smaller and more interconnected place due to a phenomenon known as globalisation. Students look at the origins of globalisation, how it has caused the world to be more interconnected and predict what some of the future issues of this might be. Knowledge organiser Physical Landscapes Students look at why river and coastal landscapes are important along with their main features and how a variety of landscapes are formed there. Knowledge organiser Megacities and Migration Why do people move to urban areas? Why do people risk everything to move to a new country? Students investigate the reasons behind migration, where people are migrating from and to and what are the causes and effects of the rise of megacities. Knowledge organiser The Earth's Natural Cycle The building blocks of physical geography are analysed through the hydrological, rock, nutrient and carbon cycles. Students assess how these work in theory and also in specific biomes around the world. Knowledge organiser Natural resources Students investigate our planet's main resources such as energy, food and water. Students explore how these are created and the issues of having an insecure supply. Knowledge organiser	Threats to biomes Students build on their knowledge of biomes to investigate how these might be impacted by humans in the future. Particular focus is on deforestation, coral reefs, polar ice sheets and plastic pollution. Knowledge organiser Climate Change Students are introduced to the science behind climate change along with what its devastating impacts could be. Australia and the USA form case studies to investigate these impacts with students debating what to do about climate change in a model climate conference. Knowledge organiser Future Resources What will the future actually look like? We investigate what food, water availability and energy will look like in the near and distant future and how these changes will impact humanity. Superpowers Currently the USA is the only major superpower in the world. However this hasn’t always been the case nor will it be in the future. Students look at what makes a superpower, how countries stay as superpowers and where hotspots of conflict exist around the world. Knowledge organiser Urban Futures What problems do urban areas suffer from? What will urban areas look like in the future? How will they be sustainable? Students look at the problems that exist in favelas and how tools like the Olympics have been used to regenerate areas. Lastly students look at new urban concepts like NEOM in Saudi Arabia to see how cities will look in the future Management of at risk landscapes The physical environments of our islands can be a fragile place. In this topic students look at what problems exist at river, coastal and glacial landscapes and how we can manage these issues through soft and hard engineering strategies.