Geography

Head of Department: Mr Richard Welbourne

Exam board: AQA

In Geography A Level, students study topics as diverse as the water and carbon cycles, managing urban change and the growth of tourism in Year 12. In Year 13 they consider earth hazards, population and resources, and geographical skills. Students at this level begin to see how the skills the have developed in this subject relate to future careers and the working world.

Students have a residential teaching and data collection trip to the north Norfolk coast. Here they look at contrasting erosional and depositional coastlines to help provide them with ideas for their non-examined assessment (project). There is also a day trip around Ipswich to support the human geography taught and also to collect useful data to analyse.

Every year there is at least one lunchtime lecture on topics which build on classroom teaching. Recent topics include an update on landslides, the Tohoku earthquake, the population crisis, climate change and super volcanoes. There are also trips organised to relevant Norfolk Geography Association meetings. Students attend the climate crisis debate at the University of Essex and watch video recordings of any relevant lectures at
the Royal Geographical Society London.

The course is assessed in two written exams at the end of Year 13 – one on human geography and one on physical geography plus the non-examined assessment.

Exam Results

The average of the A Level results in Geography over the most recent three year period (2024, 2023, 2022) is:

A*15%
A* – A54%
A* – B90%