Geography

Charlotte Spurway, Head of Geography

The Geography Department were delighted to venture back out into the field this academic year and embark in various physical and human investigations around the Dubai landscape. Grade 8 compared the similarities and differences in Bur Dubai and Downtown, to investigate the socio-economic and environmental urban inequalities that exist between different locations within one city. Following this, Grade 7 successfully undertook coastal fieldwork at three beach locations to evaluate the success of hard and soft coastal engineering management techniques, from measuring the effectiveness of wooden groynes at Kite beach, rock armour at Ness Ness beach and sea walls and beach nourishment at La Mer beach. In January Grade 6 ventured off to JBR and Marina Walk to investigate the impact and appropriateness of tourism along the transect. And finally, Grade 9 and 11 Geographers visited Wadi Showka to look at how channel characteristics changed along the long profile from upstream to downstream.

Geography Subject Week kicked off Term 3 with an introduction from Ms Spurway challenging our geographical perspectives of the African continent while she described her Mount Kilimanjaro experience. The Geography Society have delivered many exciting sessions throughout the year, from treasure hunts, lectures and inviting outside guest speakers. The GeogSoc Team delivered an inspirational and thoughtprovoking assembly debating if all countries on the planet will ever reach HIC status. They considered if it is possible for global poverty to be eradicated, for the growing middle class to flourish and increase the carrying capacity of already limited resources and pressures from growing industrialising economies.

Message from the IB DP Coordinator

Dear Diploma Programme students,

Every student’s journey through the Diploma Programme is marked by both ups and downs, and as in life, it takes determination, dedication, and discipline to achieve success. The journey to the light at the end of the tunnel cannot be achieved without an element hardship.

Whilst COVID-19, masks and social distancing may now feel like a remnant of the past you should not forget the unfavourable circumstances you have already overcome. You started your journey in the Diploma Programme amongst strict social distancing, hybrid and online learning, quarantine, being identified as close contacts, missing lessons and enrichment opportunities, and often personal absence and illness. You even started this academic year still not being able to smile, mask-less, at your peers and teachers. It is in this context with grit, tenacity and fortitude you have completed IAs, IOs, EEs, CAS experiences, TOK exhibitions and essays. Perhaps most importantly, it was in this context that you supported and celebrated each other’s success and demonstrated you are principled, open-minded, and above all, caring individuals.

You have certainly learned that success does not often come easily and without adversity. In the words of Maya Angelou: “You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, and how you can still come out of it.” In other words, those who avoid failure avoid success, and certainly avoid the personal and academic growth as a result.

Very few of us can reflect on the past two years and not identify a mistake we made, a challenge we faced that initially felt insurmountable, a time where we felt small and overwhelmed, perhaps even a time we felt like wanted to give up. However, what comes from these experiences is not only the realization that these failures were merely only temporary setbacks, but also the knowledge that they can be overcome. We are more reflective, more resilient, more balanced and more determined as a result of them. Often a failure and hardship can leave us with a renewed sense of vigour and the confidence to be risk takers in striving for our goals.

I congratulate you on your achievements, both personal and academic and wish you success in the rest of your educational journey – wherever it may take you. I sincerely hope that along with incredible academic attainment and world-class results in your Diploma, you take with you the skills, attributes and dispositions that an IB education provides you with.