Geography

Department Staffing & Roles

  • Mr M Walby – Head of Humanities – [email protected]
  • Miss H Wood – Head of Geography – [email protected]
  • Miss C Marquis – 2nd in Department 
  • Miss S Brooks – Teacher of Geography
  • Mr K McKevitt – Teacher of Geography

Welcome to the OCA Geography departmental page! In geography, we want to help our pupils uncover the wonders of our planet through varied and engaging lessons. Each OCA geographer will have the opportunity to develop a range of skills whilst exploring both human and physical geography. As a department, we strongly believe that our pupils will pave the way for the future of our planet and aim to help them understand their role in saving it.

In geography lessons, at KS3, we want our pupils to get a solid base knowledge of key geographical features and our impact on the world around us. We also want to provide pupils with a broad overview of the subject in order to allow them to decide if geography at KS4 is a pathway for them. Our geography teachers want OCA geographers to identify, explain and analyse features both human and physical geography through fresh eyes. Lessons allow for imagination and curiosity to develop whilst using scientific skills to explore impacts on our planet.

Geography is the perfect subject for getting out of the classroom. We love to see our OCA geographers putting their skills into practice and believe fieldwork is a key part of our curriculum. For this reason, we arrange fieldwork to Liverpool City Centre, River Alyn and are looking to expand this further to places! Any ideas get in touch! We also work with our DofE participants to boost map skills and outdoor skills.

As well as our UK based fieldwork, we aim to bring our curriculum to life even further by journeying to Iceland in December 2023.

We look forward to seeing you in class!

In geography, we want our pupils to experience a wide range of topics and skills during our lessons. We strive to cover key issues affecting our planet and spark a curiosity for the inner workings of our weird and wonderful world. We love our geography lessons to include authentic resources, from our staff’s very own travel experiences. We want to inspire the next generation to continue exploring, discovering and acting against climate change.

KS3 Curriculum Overview

‘When pupils join OCA, they will study geography for 2 hour per week throughout KS3 & 4. This structure allows us to deepen our geographers’ understanding of key topics  whilst developing skills in greater depth.’

KS3 National Curriculum – Geography

KS4 Curriculum Overview

At KS4, we study towards the Edexcel A GCSE Geography curriculum.

Edexcel A – GCSE Geography

At OCA, we strongly believe that careers education is a vital aspect of our curriculum. In geography, we aim to broaden our pupils’ idea of the opportunities available to them post-16. In order to do this, we:

  • Include career links in lessons
  • Hold online careers talks
  • Provide opportunities for international travel (Iceland)
  • Offer careers advice for pupils during the options process to guide/support in decision making
  • Maintain our geography careers board giving a wide range of career opportunities and the qualifications required

KS3

We love to see our OCA geographers engaging with our curriculum outside of the classroom, to expand opportunities to do this, Miss McEvoy and Miss Millar run David Attenborough film club, in which pupils have the opportunity to broaden their geographical understanding through TV, allowing them to virtually visit different locations around the world!

KS4

At GCSE level, year 11 follow a whole school timetable to support in intervention. However, we realise that pupils may want to enrich themselves further and offer supplementary sessions on Mondays 3-4pm.

For year 10, pupils are welcomed into year 11 intervention but also have their own drop in sessions available on Monday 3-4pm with Miss Millar for any support they require.

The following resources are useful for revision outside of the Geography classroom:

Online Revision Resources

Physical Revision Resources

At OCA, we believe that opportunities outside the classroom are just as important as those that we find in lessons. Studying geography lends itself perfectly to a wide range of opportunities and we love seeing our pupils use the skills they have learned outside of the classroom.

Trips include:

  • KS3 Fieldwork – Strawberry fields 
  • KS4 Fieldwork – Liverpool City Centre
  • KS4 Fieldwork – River Alyn Loggerheads
  • Iceland 2023