Congratulations to Mr Sweeney who managed to cycle from St Joan of Arc School, Rickmansworth to the five cathedrals of Northampton, Nottingham, Norwich, Brentwood and Westminster in 22 hours! Thank you to everyone who donated. It’s not too late to donate now!
Donate online at www.virginmoneygiving.com/udayan
or TEXT “UDAYAN” TO “70085” to give £5*
On Tuesday 11th July and Wednesday 12th July our Year 10 and 12 Geography students visited different sites along The River Chess to explore the changing characteristics of the river and different areas of St Alban’s Centre to study changing land use. Despite the rain on Tuesday the student’s all did a fantastic job of collecting data using a range of methods that they will be tested on in their Geography GCSE next summer.
After school on Tuesday 27th June the Geography Department hosted the Year 7 and 8 World Wise Week Geography quiz where over 30 students battled it out to become St Joan of Arc Geography champions! A huge congratulations to the winning teams:
Year 7: Cristina Gonzalez, Jenna Campbell Byrne, Ruby Beck and Gellian Legaspi.
Year 8: Gianluca Hill, Sebastian Bond, Sean Gubatanga, Matthew Huertas and Russell Coleman
From 21st-24th February Y8 students went on a History trip to Windsor Castle. This was an enjoyable and educational day for everyone. The day included going round the State Apartments, a tour of the Chapel and a session from the educational team. Some students were invited to dress up as the wives of Henry VIII and try on some costumes. On two of the days the students saw the changing of the guard and on every day there was a lot of enthusiasm for pictures with the guards! The Queen was in the Castle on the Friday, but sadly she was not seen by the students.
The Key Stage 4 History Trip went to Berlin this year with 50 students where we visited sites that covered the rise of the Nazis, the Holocaust, and the Cold War. In particular Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp and the Berlin Wall were very memorable for how they impacted on the lives of so many people.
Sixty seven Year 10 History students visited the battlefields of the Somme at the end of June. During our trip we visited cemeteries to the British, Commonwealth and German war dead, trench systems, and a museum. At these locations we witnessed the scale of loss in WW1 on both sides and how deadly WW1 actually was. We also had the opportunity to pay our respects to the war dead for the sacrifices they made at Tyne Cot and also the Menin Gate where we witnessed the Last Post Ceremony. The excellent weather, combined with the mature and engaged attitude of the students contributed towards a great trip.
Here are some photos of the Geography Department’s recent trip to the West Coast of America from 11th-17th February. As you will see from the photos, The Students, Mr Kelly and Miss Kara all had an amazing time, saw some jaw-dropping sights, learned lots and sampled some truly American culture!
The trip covered over 1,600km and we travelled through three US states, visiting San Francisco, Death Valley, Las Vegas, The Grand Canyon and finally onto Phoenix. It was quite the Epic Road Trip!
We really did have a superb experience and we have some wonderful memories that will remain with us a long time!
We have had a great few days so far in The USA enjoying the sights of San Francisco, including the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz and Twin Peaks. We were all amazed at how stunning this city is and we want to stay longer!
Today we are travelling to Death Valley and the next step of our road trip will begin!
Just before Christmas, the year 8 students in the Geography Department were completing assessments on The Montserrat Volcanic eruption and they had the opportunity to create their assessments in various styles, including newspaper articles, interactive 3D models or as a movie. Please feel free to come and see some of the work, which is on display in G22. One Student, Bruno in 8 More, decided to do his assessment as a movie, please follow this link to see his outstanding effort:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gro98tlUrmE
Back in June, we revamped our Departmental Blog and it has become increasingly popular with students both at St Joan’s and around the world (www.joageog.wordpress.com) . Deciding to propel ourselves even further into the 21st century, we now have a Twitter Account! Please feel free to Follow us to keep up-to-date with the latest geographical happenings both in the department here at St Joan’s and over the Globe! Find us @JoaGeog
Mr Kelly
