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GEOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT IN THE NEWS! |
| Below are examples taken from the Ysgol Rhiwabon newsletter which show some of the work of the department:- Since September Year 8 tutor groups have been responsible for running the paper recycling project at Ysgol Rhiwabon. The aim of the project is to make sure that all waste paper from the school goes for recycling, ie newspapers, waste paper, magazines. Staff and students put the paper into boxes which are located in every teaching room and office. These boxes are then emptied by Year 8 tutor groups every Wednesday on a rota basis. The boxes are taken to the school's paper bank. When this is full it is emptied and the school receives money for each tonne collected. A Year 9 Geography group visited Ty Mawr Country Park to take part in a practical project. Here is a brief account of the work done by the group .. "On Monday 15 th March we went to the woods at Ty Mawr Country Park with the wardens, Liz Carding and Jon Fisher. We looked for insects and studied them carefully under a magnifying glass. We then drew sketches on wooden benches, these benches are going to be used by visitors to Ty Mawr Country Park who want to sit and look at the view." -Kate Butterton (Year 9) The Year 10 Alternative Curriculum Group has been working at Ty Mawr Country Park since the beginning of the Autumn Term. Every fortnight an afternoon has been spent at Tan-y-Cut Woods, undertaking practical work. The group has cleared boardwalks, trimmed back overhanging branches and cleared streams. Recently, they have improved access in the woods by repairing wooden steps. The next project is to build a small wooden bridge across a stream. A big 'thank you' to Bill, the warden at Ty Mawr Country Park, who has been working with us. Here Louis Massingham and Phillip Walker (Year 10 students) tell about their time on Picnic Mountain ... 'At the country park there is a hill known locally as Picnic Mountain with a viewpoint at the top. On our first visit we used OS maps to identify features which can be seen from the top and calculated distance and direction, eg Wrexham Church , Erddig, Chirk Castle , Beeston Castle . Some students then drew sketches of these features for a stonemason from Derbyshire. He then drew these sketches onto large blocks of sandstone. On our second visit we carved out these sketches. It was a hot day and we worked hard in the sunshine. Mr Phillips came to our rescue with a drink for each of us. The project was enjoyable and we are looking forward to seeing the finished sundial at the end of July.' -Louis Massingham and Phillip Walker, Yr10 Year 11 GCSE Geography students went to Llandudno on Monday 18 th October to collect data for their coursework. The students worked in small groups on the beach in Llandudno and on Conwy Mountain . This year we introduced a new investigation - a study of microclimate along a transect from sea level to Conwy Mountain . Here we measured air temperature, soil temperature and air pressure every 25 metres from sea level to 244 metres above sea level. By the time we got to the top the students deserved their well earned rest! Y11 GCSE students visited Llandudno at the end of November to collect data for their coursework. Students and staff enjoyed the day, with some evidence of early Christmas shopping! Over the past month the A/AS Level Geography class has been visiting the Afon Eitha river that runs not too far away from the school. The group was collecting information for a case study that we needed to complete. This of course meant that some pupils had to get into the freezing cold water! But for some reason there seemed to be a shortage of volunteers. Eventually, John Jones, Chris Jones, Nia Roberts (at a push) and John Barclay stepped forward, foolishly. The first trip to the river was a bit of a failure, the flow meter broke and the water level was very low, however, both the second and third visits to the river were a lot more "entertaining". The river level was high, extremely fast and very cold for our volunteers to venture into. Nia, despite repeated warnings of a slippery bank still managed to slide with her usual grace under the murky depths up to her chin. John Barclay after several "glorious" attempts at trying to exit, finally did so in an appropriate manner by breaking off a branch of a nearby tree and hopping across onto the bank. Chris while measuring the depth of the water did so using his body as a yardstick, luckily escaping with his hairstyle intact. Even Ms Cahill managed to get her feet wet, though not as much as her volunteers we noted! Overall it was a fun and valuable experience which helped us in our study of a local drainage basin. -Christopher Jones , Y12 Years 12 & 13 'A' level students stayed at YHA Arnside recently to complete their individual investigations. This was an extremely successful fieldcourse. Well done to all the 6 th form students (they seemed to enjoy an early Christmas dinner!) |
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