Geography

More detail can be found about all of our academic faculties under the Curriculum sections of our website that cover the Third Form Curriculum, the Fourth Form Curriculum (leading up to GCSE) and the Sixth Form Curriculum.

The Geography Faculty here at Shrewsbury is large.  We have 5 members of staff,  about 60 AS and A2 students, 150+ GCSE students and the whole of the first year intake.  All of the faculty teachers are pivotal in the life of the school.  We have 2 House Masters, 1 Assistant Housemaster, and the Masters i/c of running, football, fives, cricket and the CCF-RAF.  We also find time to organise and host the Shropshire Branch of the  Geographical Association.

We have a high percentage of students who go on to study Geography or a Geography-related course at University (about 20%), and on average we have one student every other year who goes on to Oxbridge.

The Faculty is housed in purpose-built premises – the Lyle Buildings – right in the middle of the school. Each classroom, needless to say, is fully equipped with the latest teaching technology – we are the highest users of ICT outside the IT Faculty.

All boys who enter the school at the age of 13 will study Geography. They will follow a fairly traditional pattern of learning about the UK political and physical, the structure and role of the EU, the growth of China, along with some good solid physical geography on coasts.  These students have 5 x 40 minute lesson per fortnight of Geography together with 40 minutes ‘Topschools’ homework per week.

The GCSE course is two years, and we follow the Edexcel IGCSE specification. This examines the following:
1. Rivers
2. Coasts
3. Fragile environments
4. Urban environments
5. Economic activity and energy

There is no examined coursework at IGCSE, but we do have a least two day field trips per year.  This course is taken in 6 or 7 40 minute lessons over a two week cycle, with about an hour and a half of homework per week.

At AS level we are following the new Edexcel syllabus which looks at Extreme Weather, Rebranding Places, Going Global and the World at Risk.  This involves lots of hands-on activities such as fieldwork (including making movies), and internet research.  We visit the market towns of South Shropshire, investigate upland weather in the Shropshire Hills and look at the rebranding of Liverpool.  We expect students to read around the subject and to become involved in the Shropshire Branch of the GA, by attending the lectures we organise at the school by eminent Geographers such as Old Salopian Michael Palin and Iain Stewart.

At A2  we study: Energy security, water conflicts, Biodiversity under Threat, Superpower Geographies, Development, Technological fix to global problems, and Glaciation.

In conclusion, the Geography Faculty here at Shrewsbury is a lively place in which to study.  We aim to make every student welcome, and facilitate them to fulfil their geographical potential, appreciating the fact that life is a balance between academic and other activities.

More details of our course can be found by students on the school's Virtual Learning Experience (VLE) on our Intranet.

Dr. Tim Foulger
trf@shrewsbury.org.uk
 

A Level Results - Geography

 GCSE Results - Geography