The journey of A68-A

Thanks to Mark Brandon for the tipoff to this resource.

A new Fenland blog

I belong to a few Fenland Facebook groups.

A new Fenland blog written by Richard Poynder was mentioned.

You can read it on the link here.

A chance to come and work with us

Following the interviews for the Senior school Head of Geography post at the school where I work before Easter, we now have an opening for a Teacher of Geography at King's Ely.

Come and take a look at the information. 

A virtual tour of the school can be accessed here.

Closing date for applications is the 20th of April.

Young Geographer of the Year Competition 2021

It's time for the RGS-IBG Young Geographer of the Year Competition once again. Last year, this formed part of our lockdown learning and resulted in some good outputs and entries. We will be inviting you to take part in the competition again and providing some guidance in the next term, while being especially mindful of the impact on our own school community.

We are delighted to announce that our Young Geographer of the Year Competition, organised in partnership with @GeographicalMag, is open! Pupils are encouraged to create and submit an annotated map revealing how their lives have been shaped by COVID-19. https://t.co/lsU6EMUQWF pic.twitter.com/lhqu5feHFC

— RGS-IBG Schools (@RGS_IBGschools) April 1, 2021

This year the title is 'Remapping our Lives'.

For this year’s Young Geographer of the Year competition the RGS-IBG are asking young people to create an annotated map which reveals how their lives have been shaped by the Covid pandemic.

They are are interested to see maps which illustrate and describe:

• Which local human and physical features they and their family used during the pandemic
• Why some places were especially important to young people
• The places they couldn’t visit and why
• If the pandemic has led to them experiencing any new places in their local area
• How the pandemic changed their geographical understanding of their local area
• Any links which ‘stretch’ their maps to other places which were also important to them during the pandemic

Entering the competition
The competition has four categories as usual:

1. Key Stage 2 (pupils aged 7-11)
2. Key Stage 3 (pupils aged 11-14)
3. Key Stage 4 or GCSE (pupils aged 14-16)
4. Key Stage 5 or A Level (pupils aged 16-18)

Students should enter the Key Stage category they will be in on 30 June 2021.

The deadline for receipt of all entries is Thursday 22 July 2021 at 5.00pm. 

For all the details, see the website here.

London Video

Via Kate Stockings, and worth pointing out when using that London is not a megacity...

One for our new KS2 potentially as well as Year 8 scheme which is being updated this summer.

Boat Race 2021

The annual Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race has been moved out of London this year to avoid the crowds and a damaged bridge.

This has happened before.

This is my image of the finish line when the boat race was last held in Ely. It also appears on the Fascinating Fens calendar for 2021.

We've seen all the signs going up to close off the foothapths and roads in the area around, from the edge of Ely through Queen Adelaide to Littleport: a long stretch of road I drive along on my commute. Our students also row on that stretch normally, and the school has a part to play in the event as well. We have previously welcomed the Cambridge women's crew into our assembly at King's too.

I've seen the Cambridge crew training early doors.

Cambridge training on the River Great Ouse at Littleport this afternoon for @TheBoatRace 2021.
#TheBoatRace #BritishRowing #Littleport #RiverGreatOuse pic.twitter.com/VTdT0UdRCK

— Fenland on Film (@FenlandOnFilm) March 23, 2021

We shall be watching with interest...

Food for Thought: Burger King

Burger King are exploring the possibilities of vegan and vegetarian alternatives. Could this be one of the alternative to help feed the world in 2050? Year 7 will explore this after Easter.

Ron Bartle: a life well lived

If you don't know who Ron Bartle is, this film will tell you everything you need to know... and his philosophy on life....

An inspiration for Mark Beaumont, who we followed on some of his earlier expeditions including cycling around the world in less than 80 days, which is still astonishing to think about.

Come and work with me

The Head of Geography role at King's Ely school is currently available for applications. It's an opportunity to work with me and lead the department in the Senior school (I mostly teach in the Junior part of the school) and take us forward, building on the excellent work of my colleague who is leaving for an exciting new opportunity.

Happy to answer any questions about the job or school. The deadline is next week so there's not too much time to act.

Details about the school and the role are here on the school's website.

Look forward to seeing some of you on interview day perhaps. The video on the main school website gives a nice idea of the school.


Image: Alan Parkinson, shared under CC license - The Old Palace

New Weather and Climate Resource from RMetS

A huge effort has gone into the creation of a 20 session scheme of work, with lesson plans and resources and a teacher guide, which are the work of the Royal Meteorological Society, particularly Dr Sylvia Knight. 

This has now been made available online, and a printed copy of the guide will also be sent to all GA and SAGT members.

The 20 unit explore weather and climate, and are certainly worth considering slotting into any curriculum updates being planned for the next academic year - as many colleagues will be considering.

It's part of the relaunch of Metlink.

This is well worth checking out.

Also keep an eye out for the Metmark award that schools can apply for.

President Biden addressing the African Union Summit

Listen carefully to what he has to say and identify how Rwanda is part of this process. What progress is it making on the priorities that President Biden identifies?

Recorded on the 5th of February 2021 

Rwanda - how to make a word cloud

Starting a short unit on Rwanda with Y9 this week.

One task is to create a word cloud in the shape of Rwanda.

Instructions here by Mr P

Here's the Rwanda outline shape that you need too:

Source: https://vemaps.com/ - well worth a look

Townscaper

I first came across this game in July 2020 when it was on early access on Steam, and sadly not available for iOS. I coveted it. It's created by Oscar Stålberg.

I downloaded it a couple of months ago, and have finally had a few hours to get to play with it, and it's excellent and very calming.

I shall probably be posting numerous screenshots in different locations over the next few days.

There's a GUIDE here, although you can start playing immediately by choosing a colour, scrolling around the existing town and then clicking in different directions. I love watching the seagulls circling and settling on the rooves as well.

Here's the description on Steam. It currently costs £4.79

Build quaint island towns with curvy streets. Build small hamlets, soaring cathedrals, canal networks, or sky cities on stilts. Block by block.

No goal. No real gameplay. Just plenty of building and plenty of beauty. That's it.

Townscaper is an experimental passion project. More of a toy than a game. Pick colors from the palette, plop down colored blocks of house on the irregular grid, and watch Townscaper's underlying algorithm automatically turn those blocks into cute little houses, arches, stairways, bridges and lush backyards, depending on their configuration.

Spine poetry

 A half term activity - take books off the shelves and see what poetry you can create...

Cultural Geography of the Fens

Thanks to Steve Brace of the RGS-IBG for letting me know about this new addition to the Caught by the River website.

It's a short film which has been made by Rowan Jaines as part of her work on the Cultural Geography of the Fens. It focuses on the Cambridgeshire Fens, through which I travel on a normal work day and have done for the last eight years.

This video essay is part of a four-year research project exploring the cultural geography of the Fen region in the East of England. 

The film is made up of a bricolage of clips of the Fen region, scavenged from the internet and put together in a piecemeal fashion so that the images on screen both intensify and disrupt the linear arc of the narration. 

This is a film that aims to show the Fens as haunted by both the past and those things that have not yet come to be.