Welcome to Reigate College’s Geography Department.
My name is Lil Pryar and I’m the Head of the Geography Department at Reigate College. I’m looking forward to welcoming you in person at the beginning of the academic year and starting on our exciting course programme.
In preparation for you starting and to help give you a head-start with the course, I’m going to be setting a series of activities for you to complete over the coming months. These will give you a flavour of what’s involved with studying A Level Geography. It would also be helpful for you to keep up to date with the news, so that you’re aware of what’s happening in the world, especially with respect to natural disasters. I look forward to discussing your discoveries with you in September.
The tasks are organised in three distinct steps and should all be completed by Choices Day on 25 August 2026. This is to give you the best insight into what the courses will be like and/or help prepare you for them.
Please note, some Course Leaders (for example for Music) may release their tasks earlier, as they may form part of the College’s audition process. If this applies to you, you’ll be notified separately.
New Starters Course Tasks and Activities
| Release date | Suggested Completion Dates | |
| Explore your Subject | 1 June | 1 July |
| Get Going | 1 June | 1 August |
| Aim High | 1 June | 1 September |
Develop your research skills
Purpose of the task: to develop research skills and prepare you for your coursework pilot study.
Task: Get ready to follow the news closely over the next two years!
There has never been a better or more important time to study Geography. With growing interest in issues such as climate change, migration, environmental degradation and social cohesion, geography is one of the most relevant courses you could choose to study. It is essential, therefore, that you keep up to date with current issues. Download the BBC news app, and start reading the news every day. Throughout your time at Reigate, you can print any relevant articles and put them in your files ready for revision – the more up-to-date your knowledge, the more you will impress the examiner.
Task: Developing Your Research Skills
At A Level, you will be asked to carry out your own geography research, both for lessons and most importantly for your coursework. The task below is designed to help you practise these skills, and prepare you for your coursework pilot study which you will be doing over Christmas in your lower sixth year. Don’t lose this research as you will be going back to it in December!
Your Local Area
Research your local area and summarise your findings in a detailed poster or report. Your research could include:
- Crime rates in your local area – how do these compare to other areas/ national averages? Home | Police.uk (www.police.uk)
- Pollution levels in your local area – how does this compare to other areas/ national averages?
UK Emissions Interactive Map
CDRC Mapmaker: Access to Healthy Assets & Hazards (Particulate Matter(PM10) Level) - Deprivation in your local area – how does this rank compared to nationally? You could break this down further and look at deprivation in terms of income, employment, education, crime etc (click “switch domain” at the top of the link to do this) Indices of Deprivation 2015 and 2019 (communities.gov.uk)
- House prices in your local area – how do these compare to other areas/ national averages? Zoopla.co.uk
- Transport in your local area – how accessible is it? Satellite images on Google maps is a good way to research this, along with train timetables on National Rail, and bus timetables.
- Community engagement in your local area
- Anything else you are interested in
Develop your reading comprehension skills
Purpose of task: to prepare you for lesson 1 (tectonics):
1. Read and watch the video clips on the following website: https://www.coolgeography.co.uk/A-level/AQA/Year%2013/Plate%20Tectonics/Plate%20tectonics/Tectonics.htm
2. Draw an annotated diagram of the structure of the Earth. For each layer, you will need to show:
- Name of the layer
- Depth
- Temperature
- Density
- Composition
- Physical state (e.g. solid, liquid)
- How different seismic waves (p and s waves) travel through
3. Answer this question: What is a plate and a plate margin?
4. Draw and complete a table to compare continental and oceanic crust:
5. Carry out some research on one of the following:
- Eruption of Mt. Kilauea in Hawaii
- Eruption of Soufriere Hills in Montserrat
- Earthquake in Haiti in 2010
- Earthquake in Japan 2011
- Boxing day tsunami 2004
- Nepal Earthquake 2015
- Turkey Earthquake 2023
Make sure you cover information on:
The physical factors of the event (plate boundary, size of event, magnitude, secondary hazards, how quickly it started)
The human factors of the event (death and injury tolls, economic losses)
The background factors that may affect the impacts (when was the last event, did the population know about the event and what to do, were they prepared, are there evacuation and warning systems in place, level of development)
How well was the event managed and how was it managed.
Develop higher-order skills
Purpose of task: to develop skills and prepare you for the GCSE to A Level transition.
Please note that the work below is designed to get you used to an A Level style of writing in order to help you manage the GCSE to A Level transition. Both question styles will be used in the first half term and this task will mean you already have an understanding of how to approach them. Your responses will therefore be checked but not formally marked – do let your new teacher know in September if you would like some formal feedback.
There are a number of key skills that are essential for studying geography. These include the ability to: analyse data, assess and evaluate complex ideas and most importantly, create an argument based on evidence.
1. Key skill: Analysis
When analysing, we use the acronym 3 x PEE:
- Point – make a clear point to describe the data/a trend/make comparisons
- Evidence – use evidence from the resource to back this up. Manipulate this as much as you can e.g. “twice as much” or “8 out of the 10 countries…”
- Explanation – Suggest sensible reasons for your point, and expand in as much detail as you can
Do the above three times, so that you have made, exemplified and explained three different points to describe the data.
Task: Study and analyse the table below using the guide above.
Extension work
If you have time, explore some of the following sources to gain useful background information and insights.
Read newspaper articles regularly:
- https://www.theguardian.com/science/geography
- https://www.independent.co.uk/environment
- https://www.nytimes.com/topic/subject/geography
Listen to Podcasts:
- Royal Geographical Society Podcasts
- National Geographic Weekend
- A VerySpatial podcast
- School of Geography and the Environment Podcasts from Oxford University
Read Books:
- Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall
- Factfulness by Hans Rosling
- Origins: How the Earth made us by Lewis
- The almighty dollar by Dharshini David
- 10 Billion by Danny Dorling
Watch documentaries and films:
- Virunga (Orlando von Einseidel) depicts some of the biggest threats to the future of the Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
- The Great Barrier Reef (Richard Fitzpatrick) A three part documentary from the BBC exploring how ocean acidification, local pollution and tourism has put pressure on the reef ecosystem.
- The Impossible (J A Bayona) The story of a tourist family in Thailand caught in the destruction and chaotic aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
Head of Geography
