Blencathra
On the 27 September the A level geography group hit the road with Mr Williams heading to Blencathra Field Centre in the Lake District.

On arrival we were given our rooms with lucky Mr Williams just across the corridor, although Jacob being fussy had to have his own room. On the first day we visited Glenderaterra Beck collecting data on how the river profile changed downstream whilst getting very, very wet.

On day two we carried out an investigation in Carlisle on inner city and suburban areas and the comparisons between the two and then each group gave a presentation on their findings. Day three consisted of river management in Keswick and visiting two local farmers to see how they had diversified their farms.

Day four we then went to the seaside to sunbathe, or not. Instead we had to collect more data on tidal defences and beach profiles. Although the one hour journey there consisted of us playing eye-spy and the hour back we played the A to Z game - trying to find words for every letter of the alphabet on different topics.

Thursday we were we all given awards with the geographer of the week awarded to Annie for proposing to fund her multi billion pound dam by having a cake sale!

Departure day was Friday and we were nagged all day to go as early as possible as Jody needed to buy her new hair, which disgusted Mr Williams. We were then supposed to go via Thirlmere Dam although Mr Williams missed the turning so we were all in dismay.

So throughout the week we learnt lots of geography knowledge, which put us in good stead for our exam and learnt that the next trip we go on we shan’t be taking Annie and her loud mouth.

By Julia Hill and Annie Scarf

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Eid Party: 7 October
I would like to invite all of you to the Eid party taking place in Calder VI on Wednesday 7 October...from 3:30 to 5:30 pm. There will be a lot of free Asian food like samosas, kebabs and a few girls will be doing Mehndi (Henna painting on hands). There will also be music, dancing and games.

The money raised from the event will go towards Islamic Aid, a charity that helps young children and their families deal with disasters such as earthquakes.

it will be nice to see all of you there and hopefully it will be an enjoyable evening. Finally, the theme of the party is green and white, so please try to wear something with these colours on it.

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Ground Works: Environmental Enrichment
Ground Works was a fun activity and enjoyable enrichment course. It was full of information, with a variety of topics to focus on. We knew about certain topics but it was good to learn about other things and get more information. We did loads of activities, which brought the whole group to work together, and also allowed us to participate in activities with people that we haven't worked with before. We eventually decided to do some tree planting on the school grounds. We wanted to do this with fruit trees so that the school kitchen could use the fruit without transport costs and fuel usage. We enjoyed doing it as it got us working in groups we wouldn't work in usually.

We learnt lots of things about our carbon footprints and how to make purses out of empty juice cartons. Ground Works also taught us many things such as how to reduce our carbon footprint, which was very good. We also learnt what the carbon footprint is...what it is made up of and what contributes to it. We would recommend this type of enrichment activity to people who don't know a lot about global warming issues as it would help them to keep their carbon footprint down, and educate others.

Report by Naranjapal Hare and Vicky Murphy


Year in Industry
Visit this website if you are interested in doing a Gap year with a difference: www.yini.org.uk/.

Year 12 Geographers experience an interactive revision session
A first for the Geographers was the chance to participate in an on-line AS revision session for their January module exam. All 13 students stayed behind school on Friday 9 January to pick up some last minute information and top tips from the chief examiner of Edexcel. Julia Hill says of the afternoon “It was hard work staying behind but it was really valuable, it was good that we could ask the examiner questions and obtain fairly instantaneous feedback. It was a unique experience, something we’ve never tried before but I’d certainly love to do it again”. All students are now waiting for their first module results that are due soon.

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An afternoon at Leeds University
Year 12 Geographers had a taste of Geography at Leeds University on Wednesday 7 January. They spent the afternoon having a tour around the department, looking at all the facilities, experiencing a third year degree lecture on Glaciation and seeing what life is like at the Students Union. It was a great experience and provided a wide range of information and food for thought with their forthcoming UCAS applications.

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Year 11-12 Taster Day
This event takes place on Friday 16 January and consists of further opportunities for Year 11 students to sample lessons, plus the chance to meet, discuss issues with current Calder VI students and to sample what is on offer in Enrichment sessions which take place on Wednesday afternoons at Calder VI.

For those Year 11 students planning to go to college to do Level 2 courses or to pursue an apprenticeship, there will be presentations and workshops by Connexions, Calderdale College and local training providers in the LRC.

All timetabled lessons for Years 11, 12 and 13 are cancelled for this day. For more information, contact Mr M Howard, Director Post 16.

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