Youthful populations

Useful for our Y9 topic on Africa - exploring youthful populations, and countries where the median population is aged 19.

New Geography Society: the Shanassy Society

Named after the late Neil Shanassy who was a teacher at King's Ely for many years and Head of Geography and known to many students from his time at the school. Congratulations to the senior staff and all students involved for getting this underway.

Age-Sex Pyramids

 A few issues with these of course, but this is a helpful video,

Population pyramid from Ined on Vimeo.

The population includes males and females of all ages.

To see at a glance how they are distributed by age and sex, demographers use a population pyramid. But, as you will see, it doesn't always have a pyramid shape. And how do we build one?

Crédits
Designed by : Gilles Pison et Sabine Belloc
Multimedia Project Manager : Thierry Jori
Produced by : SO2 Media
An animation of the French National Institute for Demographic Studies and of Cité des sciences et de l'industrie

UK National Parks in 100 Seconds

The new film from our friend Daniel Raven Ellison, with voice over from Cerys Matthews. Premiere was last night, followed by a panel discussion on the future of the UK's National Parks.

Watch the film below:

UK National Parks in 100 Seconds - Preview from Dan Raven-Ellison on Vimeo.

"What do the UK's National Parks really look like? To see what these landscapes are made-up of, let's go on a walk. Each second of the walk reveals 1% of our National Parks and how they appear from above. Are you ready for the UK's National Parks in 100 seconds"

Filmed from above and spoken by Cerys Matthews, this short film will likely change how you think about our National Parks forever.

What could we do to make the most of our National Parks? What do you think?

#UKNationalParksIn100Seconds

Antarctic Tourism

 

This is part of the resource that is being created and shared by Shackleton clothing during a week of talks and sessions as part of Antarctica Now.

A useful article on the fragile nature of Antarctica, in a year when tourism has been halted, and the continent is broadly being 'left alone'.

Valentine's Roses

This week, Year 8 will be exploring the story of a Valentine's Rose, and the social, economic and environmental costs of its production. There will be many more flowers being produced and grown specifically to come to the peak of their condition in the week running up to the 14th of February, which this year falls on a Sunday. Normally at this time of year, Rose sales rise to their highest levels in the run up to the 14th of February because of the links between roses and romance.

I wonder what impacts the COVID-19 pandemic and the Brexit delays on imports of fresh goods, which would also include flowers might have on this year's trade?

We will be using a version of the resources written by Louise Ellis in her book written for the GA's KS3 Toolkit series, which can be purchased at a 15% discount currently from the GA Shop.

Stuff

Y8 - we are onto one of my favourite topics: the Geography of our Stuff...

Each item has a story.

Find an item and tell its story.

A new review of 'Why Study Geography?'

 

Thanks to Debbie Steel and 'Career Matters' magazine for this excellent review of 'Why Study Geography?' This is targeted at supporting one of the groups of people who we feel the book will be particularly helpful for.

Very happy with this.

"Alan Parkinson's enthusiasm for geography is infectious. If you read this book as a parent or guidance professional and you didn't study geography, you'll probably wish you had".

Addresses

I like the introduction to this very brief Ted Talk by Derek Sivers.... 

'Race' to the Pole...

A useful additional video.

If you want to know more Year 8, watch this...

Home Learning Pack

 A reminder of our home learning pack.

Home Learning Pack by Alan Parkinson

ArcGIS Atlas Collection - great for home learning

Need an Atlas but not got one in the house?

Check out the digital atlases.

Shared by the ESRI UK Education Team.

A new collection of digital atlases for use in lockdown learning.

Access them all here.

Don't forget that the GA also has its Geography From Home section ready to help as many return to remote teaching for a few weeks at least.

Getting ready for remote teaching again...

We hope all King's Ely Geographers had a great Christmas and a good start to the New Year: 2021. 

We will be teaching remotely in KS3 for the next couple of weeks at least it seems.

Teachers will be in touch with regards to work, which will be set via Firefly and/or OneNote. 

There will be live lessons and/or pre-recorded Loom/PPT with voiceover videos with tasks, depending on the group and teacher and timing. Invitations to live lessons will come via TEAMS and your Outlook school e-mail address. Remember that you have access to all the relevant software via your school account, and most of you will have this already set up from last academic year.

Check the Geography department's home page on Firefly where you will find the work for Year 7 and 8 in particular. Click the Lent Term 2021 button to go to the page with the work.

We look forward to seeing you again in person when the levels of infection and pressure on the NHS reduce a little from the current rates. In the meantime, stay safe.

We will also be tweeting ideas to help you on our Twitter feed @KingsElyGeog

Also remember that we have our Lockdown Learning sheet of ideas if you fancy doing something away from the screen. We sent this out in March 2020, but it's equally relevant now if you want to do something to take you out into the fresh air, and take your mind off the situation.

Offline Activities by GeoBlogs on Scribd

Lawrence's flag down South

Our King's Ely flag has made it to South Georgia and may well head further South. Well done to all those who sent in a flag design for this competition.

King's Ely Junior pupil, Lawrence Boness, is a winner in the

UK Polar Network

Antarctica Flag Design Competition!

Schoolchildren from across the globe were invited to design flags as part of the annual Antarctica Day celebrations, which mark the fact the Antarctica Treaty was signed on December 1st, 1959.

Mr Parkinson, Head of Geography at King's Ely Junior, encouraged pupils to enter the competition and Lawrence's design, pictured here at Hope Point on the island of South Georgia, was chosen as a winner.

A spokesperson for the competition said: "The aim of this initiative is to inspire new generations about the Antarctic and Antarctica Day. The idea is that following a lesson(s) on Antarctica, students design a flag for the Antarctic – as it does not have its own – based on what they have learnt."

Well done Lawrence - how fantastic to see your design here at Hope Point!

South Pole Marker

The location of the South Pole is marked by an official marker which stays in place for a year. During that time, the ice on which the marker is placed moves around 10metres as the ice it sits on moves.

2021 South Pole marker details: top hemisphere is aluminum for 6 months of night/twilight, with selected Southern Hemisphere constellations; the bottom, brass for 6 months of day. The rising/setting Sun of the Equinox is inspired by compass rose of 2020 marker; pic @SPTelescope pic.twitter.com/6InGuT9QbD

— The Antarctic Report (@AntarcticReport) January 2, 2021