History

Journey to the Centre of the Earth

This half-term, Year 9 have taken a journey to the centre of the Earth to discover how the ground beneath our feet is actually more like a Ferrero Rocher festive chocolate than they might have thought. Miss Liddicott explains.

The Earth can be likened to a Ferrero Rocher, or if you like Shrek – an onion, in that they all have layers. After explaining this we began to explore, in more detail, the uppermost layer of the Earth, the Crust.

Did you know that the layer of Earth we live on is split into 12 tectonic plates? Did you also know that tectonic plate movements are responsible for creating mountains, earthquakes and volcanoes? Year 9 certainly know this now.

As part of a two-week homework project, each student has built on their classroom learning by getting creative. Students have chosen to create either an informative poster explaining the four main plate boundaries and what happens at each of them or to construct a 3D model detailing one plate boundary and showing what occurs there. We have had some fantastic submissions and it has been wonderful to see Year 9 so engaged with their topic and showing off their creative flair.

Congratulations to our top 4: Riley, Adam, Candela and Charlotte, for their models. Congratulations also to Javier & Ffion for their excellent posters. Great effort all round and a wonderful reflection of their engagement and learning with this topic!

Where are we?

Do you have a child in Year 7? Were you thinking of planning a family hike? Now could be the time! Year 7 have been honing their map skills over the last half-term and might be ready to lead you on a local adventure…We have had a look at an Ordnance Survey map for Stoke-by-Clare and found our school. We have learnt about common map symbols and how to find out what they represent using a key. The group have all tackled reading four-figure grid references with great skill and even had a good go at the more challenging six-figure ones. We brought our topic to a close with understanding why maps use scale and calculating some real life distances & finally with having a look at how height and relief are shown with contour lines. If you do go an adventure, let us know how it goes!