Geography
Mrs H Nissinen BSc (Hons), MA
Head of Geography
hnissinen@colfes.com
Our planet is a dynamic, complex and beautiful place. As far as we know it is unique. Studying Geography can help you to understand it, but studying Geography at Colfe’s can help you thrive in it.
Geography is in the news every-day – natural disasters, conflict, development issues, global trade, migration, population growth or decline, global warming, deforestation and the list goes on. The one theme these issues have in common is change. What will your local environment, your country and your planet be like in ten or twenty years’ time? What issues will we face as an increasingly global society? What solutions will humans come up with to manage these issues? What will your role in all this be?
Studying Geography at Colfe’s will give you the skills to flourish in the world of work. The subject is broad-based: it seeks to explain the relationships between natural systems and human activity. This frequently involves collecting and interpreting data, both numerical (quantitative) and non-numerical (qualitative). Geographers at Colfe’s learn to critically evaluate the data and reach informed decisions. Employers greatly prize this capability, especially in project management. This makes Geographers some of the most in-demand graduates entering the workplace today.
In Years 7-9, we focus on ensuring key skills are embedded through the study of contemporary topics such as our unit on conservation in Year 7, the current migration crisis in Year 8 and the rise of China in Year 9. Year 9 pupils are also encouraged to engage with contemporary geographical writing by studying the book ‘Prisoners of Geography’ by Tim Marshall and also begin the GCSE specification.
In Year 10 and 11 we continue with the AQA GCSE Geography specification and examine a balanced mix of human and physical topics such as Natural Hazards, The Living World, The Challenge of Resource Management and Urban Issues and Challenges. Pupils will also attend two fieldwork trips to the Kent coast and London in preparation for their fieldwork paper.
We follow the CAIE International A-level specification in the Sixth Form which gives pupils a very broad and solid grounding in the discipline and which will prepare them for University level study of the subject.
As Geographers, we like to explore the world around us and encourage others to do the same. Recent trips have visited the Azores, The Grand Canyon and Death Valley in the USA, Iceland, and China. We also organise a range of educational visits to lectures, museums and exhibitions.
A-level course details: