FIELDTRIPS - Norfolk (GCSE) and Cornwall (AS Level)

AS trip to Cornwall, Constantine Bay

A quick reminder for all Year 10 and Year 12 students and parents - reply slips, payments and medical forms need to be returned need to be returned as soon as possible for these trips.

The final payment for the GCSE trip is 7th December 2012, though earlier payment would be appreciated.
The A-level trip has a deadline of 30th November 2012 for the initial payment.


If you have misplaced your medical form then you can download one by following this link

Year 10 students measuring beach profiles in Norfolk

Both of these trips are essential parts of the course.The data collected on the GCSE trip to Norfolk will be used to write a controlled assessment that is now worth 25% of the final GCSE grade (changes made to the syllabus this year). The information gathered and the experience of different fieldwork techniques for the A-level trip will be helpful when students sit their Unit 2 exam in the summer.

Of course, an additional benefit for both trips is the idea of developing independence and the ability to mix and work with others. Building team skills and confidence is an important part of the fieldtrip experience, as well as learning about Geography.

Italian scientists sentenced to prison for failing to predict earthquake accurately!

Six scientists in Italy have been sentenced to prison for manslaughter for failing to properly predict an earthquake that killed 309 people in 2009. Judges in Italy found the men guilty of giving "falsely reassuring" statements before the earthquake. The scientists lawyers insisted that there is no way of accurately predicting earthquakes. The men have been sentenced to 6 years in jail.

It is pretty much impossible to give accurate predictions about earthquakes, so many believe that sentencing the scientists is unfair. It is hoped that the decision will be overturned.

Read the full BBC report here

Can we predict earthquakes?

Ageing population in China

China has experienced rapid economic growth over the past decade or so, but this is jeopardised by an ageing population. This link will take you to a short BBC video report about what is happening in China and the problems they could experience. In 20 years the number of Chinese aged 60+ will double, meaning there will be more retired people in China than the entire population of Western Europe.

What can be done about ageing population? Are there any solutions? Is an ageing population entirely negative, or can we find positives? Where else in the world do we see an ageing of the population and why is this happening?

Click here to read an in depth BBC report on China's ageing population from Sept 20th 2012.
More details on China's ageing population
The economic time bomb - China growing old before it can grow rich? May 2012

GCSE fieldtrip to Norfolk - 29th April to 1st May 2013

Year 10 students should, this week, receive a letter about the GCSE fieldtrip to the north Norfolk coast in April 2013. Although some way off, it is essential that reply slips and monies are collected quickly. There is a deadline for deposits (£40) by the 28th September. It would be much appreciated if parents could ensure this money is sent into school by this date. The entire cost of the trip is £140. You may, of course, pay the entire amount in one go if you wish. You may pay in cash, cheque or use the on-line school ParentPay system. Should you require financial assistance, I would urge you to get in touch ASAP.

We have travelled to the Kingswood centre in Overstrand for many years. It is a great place to study coastal environments. The fieldtrip is essential for students as they will use the information collected to write a piece of controlled assessment about how this stretch of coastline is distinctive. As a result of recent changes to the GCSE course, the controlled assessment is now worth 25% of the final grade.  

You can find out more information about the centre by clicking here

Revision Guides for Year 11

The department has ordered revision guides for GCSE students which should be in school soon. Your teacher should issue you with a letter which explains that each guide costs £4. You should show this letter to parents and return the reply slip, along with the money, to school as soon as possible (either to your Geography teacher or Mr Bains).

The revision guides are published by CGP. They are tailored to our syllabus (OCR B) and are good value (the retail price is higher than £4). This blog does have useful links for revision that can also be used. You should make sure that your exercise books from Year 10 are kept safely somewhere as you will obviously revise from them. You should also ensure that your case study folder is kept up to date and your work is printed off the computers.

2011 UK census - results published yesterday

Every 10 years the country undertakes the Census, where each household is expected to return a form detailing who lives in the house and information about them. This information is the used to inform us about the country, how it is changing and what we all need to help the run successfully. Because there are so many census forms and so much data to collect, it takes a long time for the information to be processed and published, but yesterday saw the release of the 2011 census information. It has told us a lot about the changes that have taken place over the last 10 years since the 2001 census. This link  will take you to an interesting article about some of those changes, but here are some facts taken from the published results:

1. The population has risen to 56.1 million, an increase of 7.6% over the past 10 years
2. 1 in 6 people are aged 65 or over. This is a figure that is increasing quickly and is clear evidence of an ageing population
3. There are half a million more women than men in the country - this could be because women live longer or just that women are better at filling n forms than men.
4. The average number of people per house is 2.4 (this compares to 4.3 in 1911)
5. Manchester was one of the fastest growing places in the country and now has 500,000 people living there. The authorities there are pleased about this as it means more funds and they thought they didn't have enough people in the last census.
6. The average age of a person in Britain is 39 (in 1911 the figure was 25, showing just how much longer we are living now)
7. In 1911 there were 13,000 people aged 90+ in Britain, in 2001 this figure had risen to 340,000 and now, in 2011 it has shot up to 430,000
8. London is easily the most crowded part of the country, with 5200 people per square kilometre. The rest of the country averages out at 321 people per sq.km.

GCSE Geography to change

The GCSE Geography course will change from what has been advertised for the current Year 9 who opted to study it.

Main changes are:
1. There is now only one piece of controlled assessment which has a word count limit of 2000 words. You will have between 16-18 hours to get this work completed and it will be worth 25% of you final grade. This work is based on a fieldtrip.

2. There will be no pre release booklet for the decision making exam.

Hazards being seen all over the world

Natural Hazards are always occurring. Most of them we never we hear about, earthquakes that are too minor to report, storms that don't quite make it hurricane status. This week has seen some serious incidents around the world.

1. The UK
Heavy rain has been seen all over the UK. Localised flooding has been experienced in many areas, causing disruption to traffic and people. Over a months worth of rain has fallen in 24 hours in some places. Devon has been worst hit. One man died after his car came off the wet road. Events such as motor car racing and music concerts have been cancelled (including the Godiva festival in Coventry)
Click here to read more about English floods

2. Russia
If you think our rain has been bad, they've had much worse in Russia. In one area at least 155 people have been killed after they experienced 5 times more rain than normal and severe floods occurred.
Click here to read more about Russian floods

3. India
In NE India, over 120 people have been confirmed killed after heavy Monsoon rains flooded towns and approximately 2000 villages. 2.2 million people have been displaced (made homeless).Hundreds of animals have also been killed.
Click here to read more about India floods

4. USA
It's not rain that is the problem (yet) in America, but the heat. A heat wave has killed 42 people across the East of the country. The temperatures should drop by Monday (9th July) but there could be thunderstorms and floods afterwards.
Click here to read more about USA heatwave

So, as we wonder if we're ever going to have some sun and a summer, be grateful were not experiencing the loss of life that some parts of the world, rich and poor, are experiencing.

Rio+20 to start next week. What is it?

This year is the 20th anniversary of the first Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. From 20-22 June, decision-makers will again meet in Brazil to see what has been done, and what has not in the last twenty years. 

Twenty years ago, the UN Earth Summit brought together 172 governments and thousands of representatives from the NGO community to put a stop to what was regarded as a cycle of decline in development. It was recognized that nothing short of a transformation of our attitude and behaviour would bring about the changes that were urgently needed in order to protect the planet from the effects of both poverty and over-consumption.

Now, in June 2012, we return to Rio with new hope of real political commitment for a new way of thinking about our future and the planet. The expressed aim of the conference is to identify the main gaps in the implementation of the outcomes of the previous major summits on sustainable development, and to address the new and emerging challenges we face now.

Guardian article on the conference


What are the challenges facing the leaders meeting at Rio+20

Last minute Unit 3 revision for Yr13!

Take a look at this website for some great information on Unit 3 (all topics). Fantastic for some last minute revision! Good luck for tomorrow.

Ageing Population SDME resources and revision

Ageing population podcast - could help with SDME retake exam for Year 11s
Click here for podcast


An excellent site with resources designed to help you revise and understand the SDME and ageing population - use it!
http://www.geographypods.com/june-2012.html


A useful website with some information about Ageing population
http://www.21stcenturychallenges.org/focus/britains-greying-population/

Unit 3 Contested Planet Exam - revision session

There will be a last minute revision session on Tues 12th June, period 3 for any Year 13s, ahead of the Contested Planet (unit 3) exam on Weds 13th. This will take place in C39. It will be run by Mr Bains, so the focus will mainly be Human Geography and the Synoptic element. You must come with something in mind to revise or questions that you want answers to - do not turn up and say you want to revise everything! If you could email me the things you wish to go over or tweet them to @kenilworthgeo13, that would be useful.

Year 11 SDME retake exam (ageing population)

Just to remind you, there is a podcast about managing ageing populations in the podcast section of the blog. It's worth downloading and listening to it.

Four killed in northern Italy earthquake

An earthquake in northern Italy has killed at least four people and caused serious damage to buildings in several towns, local officials say.

Two people were killed when a ceramics factory collapsed in Sant'Agostino

The 6.0-magnitude quake struck in the middle of the night, about 35km (22 miles) north of the city of Bologna. The four victims were killed by falling masonry.

About 50 people were injured - but none seriously, reports say. Aftershocks were reported soon after the quake.

Click the headline to go to a BBC report and here to go to a different report

Norfolk fieldtrip

Remember to be at school for 8.40am outside upper on Monday. The weather forecast is fine for Monday after a cloudy start for the day. Tuesday (the day we o most of our data collection and are out for a long time) is not meant to be as nice, with more chance of rain (possibly 50% chance). Wednesday is similar to Tuesday, but check on Sunday. Well done to all the girls who returned lists of names for rooms. Most boys got lists in as well, but 14 names have not appeared on lists and I have allocated these 14 rooms.

Attention! Year 11 students re-taking the SMDE exam in June

The pre-release booklet for those students re-taking the SDME exam in June is now available and you should be studying it and going though the booklet to ensure that you are fully prepared.

The booklet can be found here here or in the shared area (go to Geography/GCSE/SDME/June 2012).

Mrs Spooner has kindly volunteered to be available Thursdays after school to go through these material with you, so make sure you take her up on this offer.

Remember, the question is about AGEING POPULATIONS, so you should be revising this topic in order to prepare.

Overstrand news from Jan 2012

Click on the headline for some news fom overstrand, Norfolk.

Norfolk Trip - Rooming information

Don't forget to read the previous post as it tells you about kit-lists and such like. This post is simply about the number of people per room. You should organise yourselves and speak to each other about who you wish to share with. You can share with people from other classes, but just make sure that when you hand me your list of names that (1) everyone on the list has agreed to be in your room (I don't want to have peoples names appearing on more than one list) and that (2) the list is not a list that will make me go "oh no, I don't think that would be a sensible combination of people" - use you judgement and common sense on this matter!

The Girls - one corridor in a building called "Bailey". Not the easiest or best of rooming for you, unfortunately:
Room 14 - 10 girls
Room 12 - 10 girls
Room 10 - 10 girls
Room 9 - 8 girls
Room 2 - 12 girls

The Boys - two different areas (one called "Irwin" and one called "Hope"). Much smaller rooms than the girls.
Irwin Room 2 - 6 boys
Irwin Room 3 - 8 boys
Irwin Room 4 - 4 boys
Irwin Room 5 - 6 boys
Irwin Room 6 - 4 boys
Irwin Room 7  - 4 boys
Irwin Room 8 - 6 boys
Irwin Room 9 - 8 boys
Hope Room 2 - 4 boys
Hope Room 3 - 6 boys
Hope Room 4 - 4 boys
Hope Room 5 - 4 boys
Hope Room 6 - 8 boys

Year 10 Fieldtrip - Norfolk (30th April to 2nd May 2012)

We are rapidly approaching the time for the Norfolk Fieldtrip. I will continue to post information up here about the trip as I receive it. At present I cannot tell you about the rooming allocation, but will do so soon. You can prepare by starting conversations with others about who you may wish to share rooms with.

All food is provided for you, though you will need to have money or a packed lunch for the journey down.

We are due to leave at 9.00am from Upper school on the Monday, so you should be in school at about 8.40am so we can get everything sorted before boarding the bus.

The sort of things you will need to bring are:

• Sensible clothing. Layers of clothing are better as they can be taken off or added depending on the weather. The coast can get windy and you should make sure you have enough warm clothing. If you have waterproof clothing that could be useful. Jeans tend not to be the best things to wear as if they get wet they will be uncomfortable.
• You will be walking about the coastline, so sensible foootwear is needed. If you have walking boots then bring them.
• You should bring toiletries (toothbrush/paste, deodorant, shower gel/soap etc).
• It would be useful if you could take photos, but the school will be providing photos when you return that you can use in your controlled assessment. 
• If you do take any valuable items then you should be aware that it is at your own risk. The last time we visited the centre there were no locks on dormitory doors.
• You should bring pens and pencils.

Remember, that it is vital that you know exactly what is going on during the trip and that you are part of all of the data collection process as you will be examined on these when we return and you will not be given much (if any) help. The 1200 words that you write will be marked and is worth 15% of your final grade.

Ask your teacher if you have any questions.

June GCSE SDME exam (re-take)

The date of the exam is Thursday 14th June (am)
The exam has this title: The old age saga - why does an older population pose challenges for us all?

There is pre-release booklet that you will be issued with and some practice questions and resources. Your job will be to work through this material, revise about ageing populations and make sure that you are happy with the different challenges ageing population presents and how it can be managed.

You should speak to your teacher if you are not provided with these materials asap.

Year 12 - Cornwall trip

The details for the trip are as follows:

You must be at school on Monday 19th March at 7.45am - yes, that's early but it is a long journey to Cornwall, as you will know, Cornwall suffers from it's isolation. Journey times are long!

You will be provided with dinner on each night whilst away and from Tuesday morning onwards you will also get breakfast. However, you will not be provided with lunch so need to bring enough money to buy something whilst we are out.

The sort of things you could bring are:
Waterproofs (if jeans get wet they are uncomfortable)
Walking boots and wellies may be useful for beaches
Layers of clothing (it is easier to take off layers of clothing if you get hot or add layers if you get cold) and things to keep you warm (the coast can get windy and cold)
Towel
Toiletries (toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant and so on)
Pens, pencils etc


Useful items could include a camera -but you must be aware that the school takes o responsibility for any items that you bring along.

I would hope that we will be back between4-5pm on the Friday, but this is subject to change and you will need to ring parents on the journey back to give them a clearer idea of arrival time.

If you have any questions about the trip you should ask your teacher or email Mr Bains on H.Bains@ksnadmin.ksn.org.uk

Earth Day - April 22nd 2012

Year 13 homework for Mr Bains (27th Jan 2012): ENERGY SECURITY - the Alberta Tar Sands

Year 13 - Energy security
Your homework is to carry on looking at the Alberta Tar Sands project. You must be confident in saying why some people are for it and why others are against it, looking at social, economic and environmental issues. The following articles and videos will help you do this. 


You should make notes on what you see (and/or add to the cost-benefit table we did in class).


A potential exam question is:
"Examine the costs and benefits of countries and TNCs exploiting energy resources in technically difficult and environmentally sensitive areas" 


National Geographic article on Canadian Tar Sands


Tar Sands Watch - a protest group website


Greenpeace campaign on the Tar Sands


Government of Alberta justify the exploitation of reserves


Nov 2011 article from The Guardian saying why the project is unwise

Two years since the Haiti earthquake

Two years have passed since a ferocious earthquake levelled much of Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, and killed about 250,000 people. It was one of the worst natural disasters of recent times, striking one of the poorest nations. There is still lots of work to do in Haiti (60,000 people still live in tents) and it is worth reading some reports that show how difficult it is for poor countries to recover after such devastating disasters, even with the assistance of foreign help.


Click on the title to read one report about the earthquake


Click here to read a different article


Click here to read a blog from UNICEF about the earthquake

SDME exam: 60min podcast for students

As the Year 11s prepare for the SDME exam on the 24th Jan, some of you may find it useful to listen to this podcast, where Mark Howell, a teacher from a school in Northamptonshire, goes through the pre-release booklet and explains sources and gives advice on how to answer questions. Because it's a podcast, you can download it and listen to it whenever you get a spare moment, in small chunks. Click on the title and you'll be taken to the podcast on iTunes. If you do decide to listen to it or download it, leave a comment for the producer, maybe thanking him for the effort!