KS2 Geography Explorers Club

Having a go at this today...

Virtual Reality (VR) visit in the school newsletter

Storify of Year 11 Fieldtrip

Bucket list...

What activities would be on your bucket list?
We discussed this idea with Year 7 this week.
Some interesting choices of activities....

Greater London National Park city

Tickets available for the event in London next week for King's Ely Geographers to join Miss Kyndt and myself.

London: the making of a National Park City

One of several enrichment opportunities for Geographers at King's Ely…

Will be here in a week or so's time with some students…
Sounds like it will be a great event with a variety of speakers and activities…

Find out more and be inspired at an evening of entertaining performances and provocative thinking.

This landmark event explores what a National Park City is, what this means for London, and how our capital can soon become the world's first.

Hosted by comedian Josie Long, speakers include designer Wayne Hemingway, campaigner Fiona Reynolds, firefighter Simon Jakeman, as well as the Bollywood Brass Band, artists and poets.

Come along and see how a simple idea can help transform one of the world's greatest cities.

Line-up includes:

Josie Long, comedian
Wayne Hemingway, designer
Dame Fiona Reynolds, campaigner
Andrew Simms, economist
Bollywood Brass Band, musicians
Judy Ling Wong, community activist
Beth Coller, psychotherapist
Simon Jakeman, firefighter
Laila Sumpton, poet
Rifat Batool, headteacher
Dr Tom Coffey, GP
Jasmine Kamal-Pasha, photographer
Mathew Frith, conservationist
Rachel Bradley, sustainability manager
Paul Hamblin, national parks director
Daniel Raven-Ellison, explorer
Charlton Manor Primary, bee keepers
Andy Mitchell, CEO
Charlotte Webster, artist
Chris Romer-Lee, director, Studio Octopi

King's Ely work in the Cathedral

Over the next month a joint exhibition between King’s Ely and the National Holocaust Centre is being held in Ely Cathedral.
Entry is free and the exhibition is in the South Transept near the main West door.
The work displayed showcases the work our students have completed, which was a focus in some RS and English lessons during the Summer term.
They retell the story of Lisa Vincent who escaped Nazi Germany who is now aged 91 and a regular survivor speaker at the National Holocaust Centre near Newark in Nottinghamshire. This is a place that the students will visit later in Year 10 as part of their Religious Studies Curriculum. Students from Year 8 give an artist’s impression of the different characters in the novel The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas which was the focus for their English lessons last year.
Part of the exhibition features poems written by Year 10 and work done on the Anne Frank Story as well as a recollection of their visit to the National Holocaust Centre and our Holocaust Memorial Service in the Cathedral last year.
This is complemented by an exhibition from the Centre itself.
It is well worth a look.

We all took a look at the end of the first Junior School service on Wednesday. Important that these events are remembered....

A mapskills and contour StoryMap for Year 7

Map of ongoing armed conflicts

For Year 9

Introducing landscapes...

Digimap for Schools - now with aerial photography

From the letter received this morning by subscribers....


Digimap for Schools now contains a wonderful new addition that many of you have asked for over and over again – aerial photography!

We are thrilled at the addition of this new data, kindly donated by Getmapping Plc.

The aerial photography shows magnificent detail and clarity - it's cloud free for all of Great Britain, something you won't get anywhere else!  You can now compare and fade Ordnance Survey maps, historical maps and aerial photography with our new enhanced Map Chooser (shown).  It's simple to use and offers maximum flexibility.

We've also added new learning resources to accompany the aerial photography.  Be inspired with ideas such as using aerial photography to introduce learners to travel, transport and trade or discuss marks we humans leave on the landscape that can be seen in aerial imagery.  Both excellent ideas to get you started with aerial photography.

To make you get the most out of this new addition to Digimap for Schools, we've created a short introductory video which explains the difference between Aerial and AerialX, the info tool for discovering exact dates the aerial photography was flown in your area of interest and a map key showing the patchwork of years stitched together to form this seamless dataset.  

And of course there is a revised Help section on How to .... fade between map types.


Here's the video, and more videos and webinars are on the Digimap for Schools YouTube channel.

New British Red Cross resource now published...

A new resource that Mr. Parkinson wrote for the British Red Cross has now been published, and placed online for download.
It's 130 pages long, and packed with ideas for teaching about natural hazards and humanitarian aid.

Free to download from the British Red Cross website.

“We urge all geography teachers to download this free resource and encourage young people to think about the humanitarian impact of natural disasters. This invaluable resource pack has been created with the technical input from the British Red Cross combined with the expertise of GA teacher consultants.”
Rebecca Kitchen, Secondary Curriculum Leader at the Geographical Association

Introduction and curriculum links

Learn about how the resource has been designed to support your teaching and how the content maps to the geography curriculum for KS3, GCSE and A Level.

Session 1: Natural disasters

Session 1 is an introduction to the Natural disasters: earthquakes resource. It sets the scene by introducing the topic of natural disasters alongside general ideas of risk and hazard.

• What do we mean by natural hazards and disasters and how can they be classified?
• Which natural hazards are the most common?
• What impacts will different natural disasters have on individuals and communities?

Session 2: Earthquakes

After a general introduction to natural hazards and disasters, this session moves on to look more specifically at earthquakes, with a focus on tectonic hazards.

• Where do earthquakes happen, and why?
• What were the causes of the Nepal earthquake?
• How can people who live in areas prone to natural hazards prepare themselves for future events?
• Could the Nepal earthquake have been predicted?

Session 3: The impact of a natural disaster

Session 3 focuses on the immediate aftermath of a natural disaster like an earthquake and the work of local and international Red Cross teams to support people affected.

• What was the immediate impact of the Nepal earthquake?
• What was the immediate humanitarian response to the earthquake?
• How were local and international communities involved in this response?

Session 4: Recovery and resilience

After a natural disaster the Red Cross supports the people affected as they start to recover and rebuild their lives.

• What are the longer term impacts of a natural disaster and how do people recover?
• How resilient were individuals and communities in Nepal to the earthquake?
• How can communities increase their resilience – what about the school community? What might make a community more or less resilient?
• What lessons can be learned from each event so citizens are better prepared for them in future?

Connectography - one for Year 12 to watch

Controlled Assessment Booklet for Year 11

I've been building the blog with a range of useful additional materials for students to refer to outside of school when completing coursework…

Scan the QR code or go to the NORFOLK COAST CONTROLLED ASSESSMENT blog for all the support materials.

Student Guide to Controlled Assessment by GeoBlogs on Scribd

Inside a Chinese super cave