Geography

Overview

Our Aims as a department are to:

• Cultivate a sense of place at local, national, and global scales, encouraging curiosity in exploring the world around us.
• Promote an interest in various physical and human environments, fostering care for our planet and its people.
• Develop an understanding of the interaction between people and the environment, inspiring respect for different communities and their ways of life.
• Promote respect for diversity, understanding of different lifestyles, and thoughtful engagement with global issues.
• Empower pupils to achieve success by developing transferable skills like teamwork, problem-solving, decision-making, creativity, and managing information.

Staff

Name	Role
Mrs N. Ellison	Head of Department
Dr A. Witherow	Vice Principal Curriculum
Mrs S. Wells	Teacher
Mr G. Shaw	Teacher
Mr T. Spratt	Teacher [Acting Head of Department]
Mrs K. Annett	Teacher
Mr P. Bailey	Teacher
Miss C. Hutchinson	Teacher

Curriculum

At A Level, pupils study the CCEA specification.

At AS level there are three exams:
Unit 1: Physical Geography (Rivers, Weather and Ecosystems)
Unit 2: Human Geography (Population, Settlement and Development)
Unit 3: Fieldwork and Skills (We complete a river study at the Curly Burn River)

At A2 level there are three exams:
Unit 1: Physical Geography (Tectonics and Coasts)
Unit 2: Human Geography (Tourism and Sustainable Settlements)
Unit 3: Decision Making Exercise

Specification Link: Here

At GCSE, we follow the CCEA specification. This is broken into three units:

Unit 1: Physical Geography (Rivers, Coasts, Weather and Tectonics)

Unit 2: Human Geography (Population, Settlement, Development and the Environment)

Unit 3: Fieldwork (We complete a river study at the Glendun River)

Pupils sit three exams at the end of Year 12, one for each unit. We do not sit any modules in Year 11.

Specification Link: Here

In Key Stage 3 pupils explore a range of themes through both classroom learning and fieldwork opportunities:

• Year 8 focuses on local perspectives, including map skills, earth structure, and studies of the local area (rocks, weather, and settlement). Pupils also complete a local fieldwork trip in Ballyclare to explore land use.

• Year 9 expands to a national & continental scale, covering topics such as Europe, rivers, coasts, population, and environmental issues. Fieldwork takes place on the North Coast, where pupils investigate coastal landforms and processes.

• Year 10 explores the global scale, with themes like tourism, tectonic hazards, ecosystems, world climates, and global warming. As part of this, pupils visit Portrush to explore changes in tourism.

This structured approach ensures pupils build a strong geographical understanding from local to global contexts, enriched by hands-on fieldwork experiences.

Gallery

Facilities

The Geography department is located on one first floor corridor in school. This is one of the most attractive areas of the school as the walls are adorned with murals painted by former pupils Peter Glasgow, Glenn Kennedy, Hannah Hamill and Helen McKinstry depicting four of the earth’s major biomes.

There are six Geography classrooms, five of which are large enough for junior classes and one smaller room which can accommodate 22 pupils and is ideal for GCSE and A level classes. All classrooms have interactive whiteboards boards and engaging wall displays. Access to computer rooms and the Learning Centre enables whole classes to undertake ICT based research or some of our GIS activities.

The Geography corridor overlooks the award-winning Millennium Garden which is used as a resource in Geography teaching. It is equipped with an outdoor classroom and our Year 9 pupils, for example, can investigate the signs of weathering there, while Year 8s enjoy collecting weather data from the department’s weather station. The Eco Club also makes excellent use of this facility and we have been awarded the Best Kept Post-Primary School in the North Eastern Region for numerous years. The Best Kept School Award is the latest in a long line of accolades won by the Eco Club. In recent years, Ballyclare High School has been awarded Fairtrade School Status and the Green Flag Award and have been consecutive finalists in the UNESCO Young Environmentalist Awards.

Frequently changing displays on the many notice boards in the corridor celebrate pupils’ work and provide information on careers and Higher Education courses relevant to Geography.

Careers and Further Study

Geography has one of the highest rates of graduate employment in the UK. It provides pupils with the opportunity to study both the Humanities and The Sciences in a natural, coherent and inclusive way. The close link between Geography and the ever changing world around us makes for a long list of related careers.

Graduates are often targeted by employers as they possess highly developed skills in data analysis, ICT, communication, teamwork, statistical analysis, literacy and fieldwork. These transferable skills lead to employment opportunities in GIS (Geographical Information Systems), finance, town planning, business, environmental consultancy, tourism, teaching and the social sciences.

This subject is also very popular at A level. For further information see the Careers in Geography display in the corridor or ask your teacher.

Graduates are often targeted by employers as they possess highly developed skill sets in data analysis, ICT, communication, teamwork, statistical analysis, literacy and fieldwork. These transferable skills lead to employment opportunities in GIS (Geographical Information Systems), finance, town planning, business, environmental consultancy, tourism, teaching and the social sciences.

Geography combines well with Chemistry or Biology for Environmental Science courses. It can combine equally well with Mathematics and Sciences for BSc Geography courses (and Engineering) and with English, History, Modern Languages for BA Geography courses.

Fieldtrips

The Geography department goes on numerous fieldtrips throughout the academic year namely;

Year 8 – Ballyclare Settlement Study

Year 9 – Portrush Coastal Study

Year 10 – North Coast Tourism Study

Year 11 – Glendun GCSE River Study

Year 13 – Magilligan A Level River Study

Periodically we organise foreign fieldtrips such as Naples, Pompeii and Iceland