Geography
A Level
There has never been a better time to study Geography with growing concerns of climate change, global warming, environmental degradation, escalating conflicts and tension and growing demands on resources.
Geography A Level leads to the development of a wide range of skills that are important for study at university and beyond. These include; problem solving, numeracy, literacy, working collaboratively, empathy, ICT skills, and independent learning.
Geography is an important element of the Sixth Form curriculum in that it provides for the study and learning of a richly varied body of facts about natural and cultural phenomena and about places and areas on the earth’s surface. Study may be developed at spatial scales ranging from local to global. Geography fieldwork is used to supplement classroom learning rather than as an assessed part of the course.
There is a four-day residential field trip to Yorkshire for the Lower Sixth at the start of the Easter holidays and an optional expedition to Iceland and New York or Sicily at October half term. Students will also have access to a programme of geographical lectures as well as a Geography Society and a Wider Reading Group.
Eltham College follows the Cambridge International A Level Geography syllabus.
It is a modular course which is assessed in a linear fashion (at the end of two year Sixth Form). The subject is split into Physical and Human Geography, each with a specialist teacher, and students sit four one and half hour written exams
Paper 1 will cover the three physical topics of hydrology and fluvial geomorphology, atmosphere and weather plus rocks and weathering. Questions will be of a data response and structured nature. Paper 2 follows a similar theme based on the human topics of population, migration and settlement dynamics. Paper 3 covers hazardous environments and arid/ semi-arid environments whilst Paper 4 covers the topics of global interdependence and economic transition. These last two papers are assessed through structured questions and essay writing.
