Geography Department at the Stanway School

GEOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT AT THE THOMAS LORD AUDLEY SCHOOL

Geography is taught within a purpose built teaching block with a dedicated classroom for each fulltime member of staff. Each classroom is well equipped with interactive whiteboards, has wall maps, furniture for storage of textbooks and exercise books as well as display boards. The department has a wide selection of textbooks at KS3 and KS4, DVDs, OS maps and other useful shared resources for classroom teaching. We also have an extensive range of fieldwork equipment.

Geography is a popular subject with increasing numbers taking the subject at Key Stage 4. Currently the AQB B syllabus is taught in year 11 and year 10 as a modular approach where the four units are completed June at the end of the course, with the controlled assessment unit being carried out in Year 10 and the other units completed as exams in June of year 11. From September 2016, the new AQA syllabus will be being taught and this has already been implemented with the current intake in Year 9.

At present in year 11 there are 3 classes of 63 students spread across 3 GCSE classes, 74 students in year 10 spread through three classes and 105 students in Year 9 spread across 5 classes. Information from options shows that the GCSE uptake will continue to increase in the future. At Key Stage 3 next year there will be 7 classes in Year 7 and 7 in Years 8. Regular assessment, target setting and monitoring student progress is integral to the department’s success. We assess progress eleven times a year and when appropriate students will be moved between sets. Exercise books are marked frequently with formative comments to aid student improvement.

The responsibility for schemes of work is shared within the department as well as the provision of accompanying resources and assessments. Over the past few years the department has worked tirelessly to re-invigorate the Key Stage 3 curriculum to meet the new requirements. This is an on-going process that the successful candidate will be expected to develop still further.

Enrichment opportunities include:

Year 10 students visit Walton on the Naze to study coastal processes and their impact on the area for their controlled assessments. Despite the removal of controlled assessment in the GCSE, fieldwork is still an integral part and new opportunities for this are being continually sought.
In Year 9 this varies year to year but previous visits have included a tour of Wembley stadium. Additionally, Year 9 have previously participated in a NEEEP wide competition involving the designing of eco-settlements.
In Year 7 and 8 local area fieldwork is completed. In addition to this, we also complete fieldwork activities within the school site.
Joint Colchester Inter School Quiz in conjunction with Colchester Sixth Form College.

Areas that need to be developed are:

Continued development of new schemes of work and resources at KS3 and KS4 in line with the new GCSE specification.
Develop more enrichment opportunities, especially outside of the classroom environment.

The post offers the opportunity for a candidate who is highly committed and conscientious, as well as having a high level of creativity and organisational skills and who is eager to work within the team which will develop the Geography Department even further.