HGS E-Newsletter (29-04-16)

Lake District

On the 14th March 33 A level Geography students departed to conduct their geographical investigations in the Lake District.

Upon arrival we headed out for a 6 Km walk up to Easdale Tarn to see for ourselves the glacial and fluvioglacial landforms which we had learnt in the class room.  This was a challenge even for A2 Geographers as they had to unpick the landscape and look for evidence of the Loch Lomond Readvance; a period when intensely cold conditions returned briefly after about 12,900 years ago when an ice cap developed in western Scotland, extending from Torridon to Loch Lomond, and small corrie glaciers were carved out again in the high mountains.

The next day we conducted our geographical investigation on the River Eea to see how the characteristics (such as the hydraulic radius and velocity of the river) changed as you went downstream. This meant we went from the source to the mouth at Morecambe Bay, which has the third largest tidal range in the world. Then in the evening we processed the data we collected and evaluated our methodology to see how we could improve it in the future.

After having a day and a half of physical geography we then turned our attention to human geography, much to Mr Bird’s delight! This involved an investigation to contrast a rural and urban settlement, which involved us getting closer to plutonium than we have ever been before as we did a “drive by” past the shipyard currently building the new ‘Astute Class’ nuclear attack submarines.  Meanwhile the Year 13s went to the coast to study the change in vegetative communities as a result of succession on exposed coastal sand.

For the final morning we visited the Kirkby Moor to look at a wind farm. It contained 12 wind turbines, each producing 400KW to power around 2700 homes. This was one of the first sites to host a wind farm back in 1993, and there are proposals to upgrade the turbines with more efficient modern technology, but for reasons we weren’t able to get to the bottom of, the latest plan is for the existing turbines to be decommissioned in the next couple of years.  This was a great insight into the complex issues surrounding renewable energy.   At the same time Year 13s carried out survey on to establish the different ecologies on managed and non-managed moorland.

The evenings consisted of a seminar and then recreational time, which we spent playing football in the sports hall and also venturing out into the forest at night.

Overall this trip was an invaluable experience and it will set us up well for our Geographical Skills exam in the Summer.

By Josef Feiven 12AHA, Jasdeep Bhambra 12AFI and Harvinder Bhambra 12NHA

Lake District (1) Lake District (2)

Lake District (3) Lake District (4)

German Spelling Bee

Following their success in the form and school competitions of the Foreign Language Spelling Bee, which was organised by Routes into Languages (www.flsb.co.uk), Rajan Aulakh, 7G, Manraaj Sidhu, 7H and Ibrahim Zaman, 7G took part in the regional competition at Aston University on 13th April 2015. After an exciting semi-final, Rajan and Ibrahim went through to the final round. Rajan showed a fantastic strength of nerve and emerged as the winner of the regional final. He will now compete in the National Foreign Language Spelling Bee at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambrige on 1st July. Congratulations!

GermanSpellingBee2016 (5) GermanSpellingBee2016 (10)

HGS E-Newsletter (22-04-16)

Year 13 Study Leave

Year 12 Study Leave

Year 11 Study Leave

Whitemoor Lakes Information

The majority of Year 7 pupils will be attending the Whitemoor Lakes residential from Monday 9th May to Wednesday 11th May. Pupils have been provided with a kit list for the visit, a copy of which is attached below.

Pupils should arrive for school in non-uniform and take their suitcases to their allocated rooms. We will depart for Whitemoor Lakes at 10.00am, looking to arrive by 11.00am. Pupils should remember to bring along with them a packed lunch for the first day (pupils on free school meals will have a packed lunch provided), as our first meal at the centre will be at approximately 6.00 pm.

Please also be aware that any electronic gadgets e.g. mobiles phones, iPod etc. are brought to the visit at their own risk, the school cannot take any liability for these items. Pupils may want to bring along some spending money we suggest no more than between £5 – £10 in change for the pool table and vending machines.

We aim to return to school on Wednesday 11th May at 2.30 pm and arrangements need to be made for the pupils to take their luggage home.

Mr M Mohsin

Whitemoor Lakes Kit List

Whitemoor Lakes Site Rules & Conditions of Use

Action Plus Programme

HGS E-Newsletter (15-04-16)

Winning Goal!

Aston_villa_logo-3

HGS Old Boy Corey Blackett-Taylor scored the winning goal for Aston Villa Under 21’s against West Ham United Under 21’s on Monday night. Corey has made great progress as part of the Academy programme which he began whilst a student at HGS – congratulations and good luck!