Thought for the Day

“We had pierced the veneer of outside things. We had “suffered, starved, and triumphed, groveled down yet grasped at glory, grown bigger in the bigness of the whole.” We had seen God in his splendors, heard the text that Nature renders. We had reached the naked soul of man.”

Sir Ernest Shackleton

Today is the 105th anniversary of the day that Sir Ernest, along with Tom Crean and Frank Worsley arrived at the whaling station at Stromness on South Georgia, following the boat trip from Elephant Island and the crossing of thae mountains and glaciers of South Georgia itself...

Wasteminster - Plastic Pollution

There has been plenty in the news at the moment about the issue of plastic pollution and the way that the UK exports its plastic overseas, ostensibly to be recycled, but where it is a possibility that it will be dumped or burned instead.

Greenpeace UK have created this video to visualise the scale of the problem.

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Y9 - Climate Change

A useful video for Y9s as we move from the causes of and evidence for climate change to the potential impacts of the enhancement of the greenhouse effect as a result of climate forcings...

New posters for Geography rooms

 

Had several of these made by Dan at Doodle to link with our schemes of work in geography at King's Ely Junior and also my GA Conference theme. A1 frames from Athena. 

Just need to find somewhere to hang them now...

Slow Ways - another Dan Raven Ellison project we've got involved with

Just over a year ago, I was part of a team which met in person or virtually to begin the process of creating the Slow Ways network, initiated by Dan Raven Ellison. As we approached lockdown, the idea of walking for exercise and exploring our local areas became increasingly attractive.

I worked on creating some walks in familiar locations: close to home, along the Norfolk coast and in and around Ely where I work.

Slow Ways is an initiative to create a national network of walking routes connecting all of Great Britain’s towns and cities as well as thousands of villages. The beta website is now live. Take a look.

Using existing paths, ways, trails and roads, people can use Slow Ways routes to walk or wheel between neighbouring settlements, and combine them to create longer distance trips. It’s designed to make it easier for people to imagine, plan and go on walking journeys.

There are currently over 7,000 Slow Ways stretching for over 100,000km. This network of routes was created by 700 volunteers during the Spring 2020 lockdown, creating a unique Slow Ways map in the process.

The next challenge in 2021 is to walk, review and verify them all - checking 100,000km of Slow Ways in the process.

Slow Ways aims to inspire and support more people to walk more often, further and for more purposes.

While there are thousands of miles of paths linking places across Great Britain, there isn't a comprehensive and trusted network designed to help people walk off-road between towns and cities. That’s what the Slow Ways initiative, with its distinctive geometric connections, is creating.

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