BEYOND THE CLASSROOM

We have had yet another successful year in Geography. We have continued to grow not only as a Geography depar tment, as we welcomed the wonder ful M r Hoare to the depar tment but also our uptake at GCSE level has continued to flourish to become the most popular optional GCSE choice. The Geography team has been thoroughly impressed with the ‘go for it ’ attitude that our aspiring geographers are continuously demonstrating.

This has been par ticularly evident on the KS3 trips that were able to run earlier this year. Firstly, we had the oppor tunit y to introduce our Year 8 students to a ver y unique and special ecosystem; the M angroves, located in Umm Al Quwain. The Year 8s completed a day of fieldwork investigating the Mangroves. This was designed to give them experience of planning and executing successful Geography fieldwork , and it formed the basis of their assessment projec t.

The students gathered various forms of data for their investigation. This included completing; a transec t to show how the ecosystem changes as you move inland, an Environmental Qualit y Sur vey and field sketching. Students worked successfully as par t of teams to gain accurate and

complete sets of results that helped them to produce high qualit y projec ts. Well done to all. Then it was the Year 7s turn to get out into the field and hone their fieldwork sk ills. The students had a great day out in Februar y, visiting The Sustainable Cit y. This was to learn about and experience first hand what living sustainably in Dubai looks like.

A ver y successful year but sadly, we will be saying farewell to M rs Keeley and M iss Younger who will be leaving Kings’ for pastures new.

Mrs Keeley Head of Secondary Geography