KS3 & KS4 geography curriculum

This unit develops pupils' understanding of weather and climate at different scales and how it impacts people and the planet around the world. Teaching this unit early in Year 7 allows pupils to use their knowledge to make sense of later units on coasts, forest biomes and population. By covering climate change in this unit it allows pupils to consider the impact of global warming in units across the curriculum.

1. Weather and climate
2. World climate zones
3. The UK's climate
4. Fieldwork: Planning and collecting microclimate data
5. Fieldwork: Presenting microclimate data
6. Fieldwork: Analysing, concluding and evaluating microclimate data
7. Types of rainfall
8. Anticyclones
9. Depressions
10. Weather and climate forecasting
11. Past climate change
12. Causes of climate change
13. Impacts of climate change on the UK
14. Actions to tackle climate change

• Rain, snow, hail, wind and sunshine are all types of weather.
• In the UK there are four seasons, each bring different weather.
• A weather forecast is a prediction of the weather.
• Weather and climate are different - weather is the day-to-day condition of the atmosphere outside.
• Climate is the average weather conditions taken over a longer period, usually 30 years.
• Pupils should understand the concept of seasons (spring, summer, autumn, winter) and how they vary in different parts of the world.
• Pupils should be familiar with the concept that wind is moving air and that it can vary in strength and direction.