GEOGRAPHY & ESOLTRIP TO LUNDY ISLAND
June 09

Mr Whaley, Mr Charlton and Miss Percy accompanied the Year 12 Geographers and ESOL students on a glorious sunny day trip to the beautiful North Devon Nature Reserve of Lundy Island. They enjoyed the boat Journey across on the M.S. Oldenburg and after a wait for the wind to change direction, landed on Lundy. They visited many different sites, discussing the History, Geography and Biology of the area. All pupils really seemed to enjoy the trip and were tired out by lots of walking. Some even fell asleep as they sailed back to Bideford!

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YEAR 8s NATURAL HAZARDS PROJECT
JUNE 09

Year 8 have been studying European natural hazards this term. For homework they were challenged to produce a piece of work using creative ideas to show various natural hazards. A huge variety of ideas were brought in. These included various models of volcanoes with baking powder/coke and mentos eruptions, a model of a motorway crash in fog, a cross sectional model of the formation of a hurricane, power-points and home-made videos and some scrumptious volcano shaped cakes!
All had fun showing off their work and I (Mr Whaley) especially enjoyed "marking" the cakes!!

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YEAR 10 TRIP TO WESTWARD HO!
MAY 09

Just a 10 minute hop in the school minibus and Year 10 were able to enjoy a day at the seaside with Geography! Not exactly ice cream weather but the pupils where there to look at coastal landforms, coastal processes and how humans are managing the threat of coastal erosion.
All enjoyed the day and the pupils worked really hard and seemed to learn a lot. They will now complete a couple of weeks follow up work and in the future no doubt enlighten their family and friends when visiting the beach!

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FIELD WORK SKILLS WITH YEAR 12
MAY 09

Year 12 visited the local River Yeo to have one last chance to experience some fieldwork before their AS exams. The 11 pupils, Mr Charlton and Mr Whaley spent a short time measuring various aspects of the river. One of the exams the Geographers will be sitting tests their understanding of a variety of fieldwork skills so this visit was a final oppotunity to have first hand knowledge.

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CHEDDAR GORGE & CAVES VISIT WITH YEAR 7
March 2009

The sun was shining when we disappeared underground into Gough's cave. We had a tour of the cave, learning about the history of its excavation and the geological reasons for its formation, we even found out how they used to store the famous Cheddar Cheese. Our tour guide commented on how we were the "best group at listening she had ever had!" We were then left to explore Cox's cave and then climbed the steps of Jacobs Ladder to the top of the Gorge. The view was enhanced further by climbing the watch tower for a full panoramic view of the area. We enjoyed a lovely lunch in the sunshine followed by an ice-cream before the journey home.

Click here for: Cheddar Caves & Gorge Trip 2009 Photo Gallery

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MICRO CLIMATE INVESTIGATIONS WITH YEAR 7
FEB 09

Year 7 have been studying weather and climate this term and have been looking at the phenomenon of micro climates. They have taken some weather instruments around different sites in the school and taken measurements. They are then comparing their data with data collected from the digital weather station on top of the IT building. This will then be formally written up as an investigation.

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MAKING THE MOST OF THE WEATHER!
FEB 09

On the 10th February snowfall and heavy rain meant that water levels were very high on the River Torridge. Mr Whaley and Mr Charlton saw it as an ideal opportunity for an impromptu fieldtrip! Taking advantage of the perfect suroundings for Geography, the class jumped into the school minibus and whizzed off to nearby Wear Giffard. The river was very high and really gave the Year 12 pupils a great chance to see what they had been learning in the classroom in the last few lessons.

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LOWER SIXTH - WALES TRIP - Nov 2008

The Lower Sixth Geography class have returned safely from a trip to South Wales. They stayed in Abergavenny and spent time out in the wilds of the Breacon Beacons. They were looking at glacial landforms and features, and got their hands very dirty doing some" till fabric analysis" on the side of a river. The group also spent a day in 5 different sites across the City of Cardiff. They looking at a variety of social indicators and comparing the environments of differing urban locations. This work gives the pupils first hand knowledge of the content learnt in class, it also gives them experience in a variety of field work techniques. Both Mr Whaley and Mr Charlton were extremely impressed with how hard the group worked and showed great enthusiasm in both the lectures and out in the field.

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SIXTH FORM - SNOWDONIA TRIP - Sept 2008

The Upper Sixth have returned from a very sunny and dry Geography trip to Snowdonia! Mr Whaley and Mr Charlton accompanied the student geographers to Betws-y-Coed in the Snowdonia National Park. They studied tourism and its impacts within the National Park, Glaciation and associated landforms, followed by land-use of the coastal resort of Llandudno. A lot of hard work in the evenings and tough walking meant that all returned tired but feeling a great sense of achievement.

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YEAR 11s GO WALK ABOUT
Sept 2008

Year 11 Geography pupils have been on a field visit to collect data for their GCSE coursework. They visited the neighbouring town of Barnstaple and completed a full transect of the town. The aim will be to investigate the different land uses and see if there are any patterns. Pupils were also interested in the environmental quality of different areas and looking at possible influences to house prices. Both Mr Whaley and Mr Charlton who accompanied the pupils were very pleased with how hard the pupils worked and how seriously they are taking this important GCSE coursework.