"Academic standards are above average." OFSTED

Year 9 Geography Competition

Volcanoes

The Downs School Geography department has recently set a series of challenges for Key Stage 3 students and Year 8 have just completed their challenge to model a volcano.

Mr Rudge (Head of Geography) said:
I believe modelling is an important and fun part of the great learning we do in Geography. In this task I particularly wanted the students to carefully consider the structure and formation of volcanoes, whilst also learning the key geographical terms associated with them. Building 3D models is a fun way of letting solid research and imagination combine.

The response was amazing, filling all the available space in two classrooms. Students embraced the challenge and the standard was incredibly high with many students also having put their geographical and chemical skills together to provide working models which simulate an eruption. As the classroom used for judging was in use the following lesson it was decided to postpone any eruptions until a future date!

Mrs Houldey said:
The standard was so high it was very difficult to pick a winner.

Volcanic eruptions are very topical at present as we are all aware of the current activity in Iceland. The competition to model a volcano was launched before the current activity but was, in part, inspired by an amazing trip run by the Downs School over the Easter break whereby Sixth Form and Year 11 students visited Reykjavik in Iceland and visited many geological sites, including the volcano, Eyjafjallajokull, which erupted last year and caused a lot of disruption to air travel. This was particularly relevant for current A2 students who are studying this as part of their course.

Some preliminary judging was undertaken in class before the final judging competition at lunchtime with a few ‘celebrity’ judges; Mrs Houldey (Headteacher), Miss Keen (Head of Year 8) and Miss Wilding (Deputy Head of Year 8).The judges found it very hard to come to a decision but in the end a decision was made based on the criteria of appearance, information and X-factor.