It’s been another fantastic year in the Geography Department. As always, fieldwork has been central to the curriculum with Key Stage 3, IGCSE and A Level students all attending trips in and around our region and Spain. Year 7 visited Málaga to look at settlement and map skills, Year 8 completed a geographical trail and put sketch mapping into practice in Mijas and Bolonia, while Year 9 visited the Alhambra, considering the geographical impact of such cultural attractions.

At IGCSE, investigations for the coursework projects were carried out in Tarifa and Fuengirola, allowing a comparison between two very different models of tourism in our local area. Year 8 Geographers have been working on a new investigation based unit involving local fieldwork, which has introduced them to a range of data collection and project planning techniques.

This has been a big year for all subjects with the introduction of the new A Level curriculum. In Geography, this has been a breath of fresh air, giving students the opportunity to cover many more contemporary issues, such as climate change, global inequalities and the rise of the ’global brand’. The Year 12 Geography group investigated urban re-branding through sport and culture on their residential trip to Barcelona, as well as carrying out local fieldwork investigations in Marbella.

Humanities Day was a huge success with all Key Stage 3 students being involved in Geography workshops on water inequality and development. The Humanities house quiz was presided over by Year 13 geographers and proved to be a close competition between all four houses. Sustainability has been a big theme around school this year with some excellent work on recycling. Year 7 geographers echoed this in their work through a competition to design the perfect sustainable settlement and produced some outstanding work. Year 8 students have continued the theme of sustainability through completing independent projects on ‘environment in the media’ as part of the PSHE plus course.

This has been a year for establishing further links between Geography in the Primary and Secondary Departments. I had the privilege of working with Year 5 on their local Geography unit and developing new and contemporary resources with Miss Harriet and Miss Ruth as a result. It’s wonderful to see the progress that students make throughout the school and, of course, I finish by wishing the A Level and IGCSE Geographers all the very best for their results in the summer and in whichever path they choose to take next.

On a personal level, I’m leaving EIC this year and moving on to new challenges in London. I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone, staff and students alike, for making my time here so memorable and making EIC such a fabulous place to work. I really have enjoyed every minute of working at EIC and will leave with very fond memories. My new school definitely has a lot to live up to!

Jenny Morrow