Geography

GEOGRAPHY Miss Emma Goodman, WORDS BY Head of Geography REPORT

Y5 CRIME WORKSHOP: My favourite part of the crime workshop was when we all had dressed up as detectives and had to solve a crime! We learnt how to test for fi ngerprints, read the suspect cards, collect fi bre samples and even collect blood! It was an amazing experience!

Arjun Dey

When detectives Jackie and Sophie came to the school and told us about Forensic science, I had learnt some very interesting things! One of them being, apparently, even if you are the greatest criminal in the world, you will always, always leave some sort of evidence. I also learnt that some police offi cers had to sleep in the day just so that they can make it through the night shifts for things like security. Overall, I really learnt a lot from this workshop. Leo Butler

Before Easter, the whole of Year 5 was invited to a Crime CSI investigation run by PulseCSI.co.uk. We solved a crime scene, involving a murder that was committed outside of a famous temple. We had to use mini microscopes with UV lights and normal lights to observe the evidence. We also had a brighter UV torch to examine the evidence further. We used DNA tests and iron fi lings to get fi ngerprints. During the process of solving the crime scene, we had learnt how to use CSI equipment. After this, we had a group Q&A where we each asked interesting questions. I learnt lots about CSI and the different procedures.

Stanley Banks

In the crime workshop we looked at how to get fi ngerprints. We had also checked what type of fi ngerprint we all had - I had one called delta. Then we did an investigation getting dressed into Investigation hazmat suits, gloves and masks! We had 1 hour to decide who killed a man examining all the clues and evidence. We were given 4 suspects and that defi nitely tested our skills that we learnt in the earlier lessons

Oliver Gibson

DIAMOND RESCUE LESSON “I loved this lesson where we had to navigate the map to steal back the diamond from demon thief Affl eck! We had to think about how to dodge guards and sneak around the castle grounds avoiding being seen. I used my compass point direction knowledge to help. Our get-away route was successful, and we got the diamond back!”

Samuel Parrish

“We had to mark all the points on the map to help our secret spy stay hidden. I used 8 point compass rose directions and some strategic thinking to hide from the guards! The hardest part was avoiding all the guards in the watchtowers and fi nding a good entry point into the castle! Eventually we got in and as a team we created a path out for our spy who made it home with the stolen diamond.”

Wilfred Squire

“I liked using the walkie-talkie to talk to our spy and tell him what to do. It was hard to give him a safe route away from all the guards cooking and eating in the dining room, right next

Geography

to the treasure room where they had put our diamond.”

Ilyas Hosein

Y6 DINOSAUR DETECTIVES Our Y6 geographers were the latest boys to explore the fossils’ mysteries. During their fun lesson, they found out about how fossils form, discovered which dinosaurs they came from - we have bones from a Plesiosaur, an aquatic reptile, and a coelodonta antiquitatis, a woolly rhinoceros, among others. And through observation and touch, the boys could also guess which fossil was the oldest. During fossilisation, bones start to be dissolved by water seeping through the rock. Minerals in the water replace the bone, leaving a rock replica of the original bone called a fossil. So, generally, the lighter the fossil, the younger it is.

“One thing that stood out to me this year is the time that Ms Goodman let us hold real dinosaur fossils.”

Haris McLynn

Y7 TASTY PLATE TECTONICS Chocolate may not be the first teaching aid for a revision lesson on plate tectonics that may spring to mind, but, as our Y7 boys discovered, it makes for an enjoyable way to remember the four types of plate boundaries and their geographical features.

Each boy received a Mars Bar to use to create the four types of plate boundary: destructive, collision, constructive and conservative. What followed was a wonderful, somewhat squishy lesson that created Mar Bar based landscapes, including fold and shield mountains, while caramel magma formed new lands and chocolatey earthquakes caused sticky situations. And, the best part, the boys could eat their work at the end of the lesson, if they wanted to. It is sure to be a topic remembered by all!

MARS BAR REVISION When we were revising for exams and Miss Hone had a brilliant idea to make a very cool revision session with Mars bars. We used them to recreate the plate boundary movements, for example when you put pressure on it the caramel goes out a bit just like tectonic plates and magma! My favourite was the destructive boundary when we had to subduct one piece under the other and it became a huge sticky mess so we got to eat them!

Gabriel Taiola-Kouriss

The mars bar revision lesson was great fun! We broke up Mars bars to resemble the different plate boundaries - Constructive, split it in half to show plates moving apart, Conservative, the two halves creating friction going past one another, Collision, the plates crashing into one another and destructive, one sinking below the other! This really helped me visualise how the tectonic plates moved and now every time I need to know a plate boundary I think of the lesson!

Thomas Davidson

PC SATCHWILL VISIT:

When the policeman came last term, he taught us a lot about crime and his job. We saw a fake crime scene and had to tell the police about the evidence we could see, and try to figure out what the crime was. The policeman told us a lot about different types of places he works, situations where you would need different gear and we got to try it on! Xavier Clark

Above: Y6 examining Plesiosaur fossils Right: Playing detectives, Y5 crime scene ivestigators

Geography

A policeman came to our school, to teach us what it’s like dealing with crime. He showed us the different uniforms that he used for different occasions, for example, a normal police baseball cap would be used for normal every day. A fireproof visor, which offers more protection, would be used for maybe a football match where fights could happen. I really enjoyed meeting PC Satchwill and learning about his role

Austin Reddy

We had a police officer come to talk about their job. Throughout the Covid19 pandemic, police officers were key workers. They helped our world to become a better place by preventing murder, robbery and burglary. Whilst on duty, they have to wear their very fireproof, bulletproof police uniform. This is to keep them safe. They receive information from the CSI team and search for the suspect (who is potentially guilty) Once they find the suspect, they put them in handcuffs, take them to the police vehicle, lock them in a small, cramped cell in the police truck and go to court. If guilty, they then get sent behind bars Stanley Banks

PC Satchwill and his team of police officers

I loved the police talk because it was fun and we got to learn about what situations the police team has to deal with. We also learnt what the police wear like uniforms and helmets. We asked questions like what to do when you see someone threatening another person or when an important item is stolen. We had a fake crime set out in the room and we had to solve the crime and collect certain items in the crime scene. – Riddha Athreya

JAM & ORANGES We used oranges and jam to recreate the way in which the Earth’s plate tectonics move. We peeled the orange (Earth) and covered the whole segments intact in jam which was representing the magma. We then had to try and fit the skin back onto the orange to represent the crust, which was super tricky and kept sliding around everywhere! Between the gaps the jam kept squishing out. This really helped me to understand the shape of the Earth and how they layers of it work together like a puzzle piece just constantly moving

Harry Mullan

Jam and oranges was such a simple way to show how the magma creates movements underneath the Earth’s crust which is why the tectonic plates move. I know now that it is the convection currents causing drag through rising and falling heat from the core through the mantle that make this movement happen. I enjoyed this lesson as it allowed me to understand continental drift theory much better. I wish I could do this again as this was very fun and educational. Jun Oakes

MONTSERRAT The Montserrat radio lesson was really worthwhile because everyone got to do something whether it was mapping out the hazards or completing the quiz. Mr Loader was on the other end of a walkie talkie radio and we had to dial him in as our helicopter pilot who was watching the volcanic eruption! With the information he gave us we had to hazard map and make critical decisions to save as many lives as possible! This was also helpful because it helped me with an area that I found tricky in other theory lessons

Olly Meier

During this lesson we had someone (a pilot) on the other end of the radio informing us about a volcanic eruption. We then had to make quick choices on how to save as many people as we could while colour coding our hazard map. Some of our decisions had knock on effects or threw us extra challenges to overcome. This really helped me use the skills and apply the knowledge

Geography

I had learnt about protection, prevention and planning when looking at natural hazards.

Sebastian Warner

Y7 TAKE ON TOURISM COULD YOU DEVELOP A THRIVING TOURIST ATTRACTION? Each team had a virtual 100 acres of bare land and £150 million to spend on items ranging from mountains and rivers to roller coasters and casinos to cafes and hotels to hospitals and fire stations. The boys were soon busy working together to create a successful attraction with the advice to take their target audiences’ needs and interests into account while also looking out for potential pitfalls.

The pros and cons of each team’s plans were then put to the test to see if they would be raking in cash in five years or losing money.

Scenarios included: • SWINE FLU! If you don’t have a hospital, you lose £10 million. • Everyone likes the water! If you have windsurfing and jetskiing, you gain £25 million. • There’s a fire, but the local fire brigade put it out before your firefighters even have their trousers on! If you have a fire station, it was a waste of time and you lose £15 million. • Thrill rides have become incredibly popular. If you have any type of roller-coaster, you gain £10 million for each one.

After working out how much money they had gained or lost, the boys then had the opportunity to turn their attractions around by making changes (unless they had lost all their money already!). Which parks would stand the test of time? Which would last ten years or even 25? And who would be the best tourism business teams?

While not every team was successful, the lessons proved a real hit with the boys and helped solidify their learning on the types of tourism and tourism trends.

Police Officers in the making DESIGNING OWN TOURIST RESORT GAME Designing our own tourist resort was VERY fun. It gave us complete control of building and creating our own theme park. Before the game started we were given £150M in our pairs. Then we bought and placed various attractions on our 100 Acre grid. We had to spend £120M no matter what so you could only be left with £30M. When the game started various events happened that either gave us money or deducted money. They were split into episodes of ‘After 5 Years’, ‘After 10 years’ and ‘After 25 Years’. Whoever had the most money at the end of ‘After 25 Years’ won. It educated us on the various problems tourist attractions have to face and we had to Ethan Daubney

SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DECISION MAKING This game was really fun. We had to imagine we were sustainability advisors for Phuket council who were needing help to manage their excessive tourist numbers. When each scenario was given we had to think hard about which decision was the most sustainable and why plus consider the implications of each. We were awarded points depending on what we chose to do and winners were the ones closest to 100. Some of the decisions included thinking about how to benefit locals as well as tourists, how to negotiate energy supply issues and waste management, income and revenue, new building proposals and more. It really brought tourism to life for me and made me appreciate everything I had learnt throughout the topic.

Amar Rai

Y8 JOURNEY TO THE SOUTH POLE The year is 1907; a newspaper advert placed by Ernest Shackleton entices you on the adventure of a lifetime to the South Pole, but you only have £2 16s 2½d (£2.81 in today’s money) to purchase food and equipment for the long hazardous journey.

Men Wanted - for hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful, honour and recognition in case of success.

Keeping within their meagre budgets, the boys, working in groups, had to decide which would be the best provisions to purchase and how much of each would be needed to get them to the Antarctic. But what to choose? A snow car or a sledge, beef jerky or peanut butter, skis or ice skates?

After making their selections, the boys soon discovered how well they had considered the extreme conditions they would face and the length of their journey, with points awarded for good decisions but points deducted for poor choices. The challenge certainly made for a highly competitive, informative and fun series of lessons.