Welcome to CROMGEOG

Humanities status awarded to Cromwell

2007-08-19T20:37:00.001Z

Geography is very proud to be one of the subjects associated with our Specialist Status bid for Humanities. We found out in late July that we have been successful and will begin receiving the recognition and funding that Specialist Status brings in the Autumn. This is excellent news for Cromwell and the wider community of Chatteris and Fenland.

File sharing suspended

2007-08-19T20:37:00.000Z

Apologies to anyone who has been attempting to download information from our 4shared site as advertised in the links on the right of this page. This includes all files shared for GCSE, visiting teachers, and A level students. This is because 4shared.com wipe their users accounts if we do not log in at least every month. Unfortunately owing to the summer holidays our work has disappeared. We hope that it will be possible to reinstate some of this information before long.

In the meantime, well done to our A level students who got some cracking results - nothing below a D in both AS and A2. My thanks to Dr Peryer and Miss Harris for their hard work, and of course the students who did so well. Congratulations to you all!

As most of you know, I've left Cromwell for a sunnier climate. Best wishes to everyone for the future.

Matt Burdett

Year 9 tourism surveys

2007-05-21T15:11:00.000Z

Year 9 have been learning about different questionning styles. You can find a sample of their questions about tourism by following this link: Click here to take survey

Please fill in the survey - but be quick, as there is a maximum of 100 respondents per survey! PS Your identity remains totally private - we do not see who you are or ask for any personal information.

Comments? Tell 9a1 - it's their survey!

Main Geography site now online

2007-05-11T14:44:00.000Z

You can now visit our main school webpage where the Geography subject section has been updated to give much more information than before on topics like:
- our year-old building including recent photographs
- our role in Cromwell's bid for Specialist Humanities Status
- why you should study Geography at GCSE and AS/A2 level
...and lots more! You can find it here or by typing in http://www.cromwellcc.org.uk/geography/index.htm

The Final Countdown

2007-05-03T15:30:00.000Z

A reminder to all Year 11 students that the countdown to exams has begun. There are GCSE Geography revision sessions every Thursday afternoon at 3.30pm until 4pm from now until half term.
Visit our dedicated GCSE blog to get more details - and information about how to download the revision materials used in the sessions and in Mr Burdett's class.
Good luck!

Movies cancelled!

2007-04-19T09:52:00.000Z

Oh dear! Unfortunately it seems the movies placed on the site over Easter didn't download properly. If you want to get your movie, see Mr Burdett at school - bring a disc and I will give you the files you need.

Sorry!

Year 8 go to Hollywood!

2007-03-27T10:34:00.000Z

...or at least become film makers in Geography at the moment.

Mr Burdett's groups have been making movies using Windows Movie Maker, all about the Mozambique floods in February and March 2000. At the moment we are still uploading them to the internet, and a link will be posted here as soon as that is complete.

In the meantime, if you want to have a go at making your own movie, you can follow some step by step instructions that are available for download at mrburdett.4shared.com - look in the 'Year 8 movies and instructions' folder for the document. It might be a bit fiddly to start with, but you'll soon get the hang of it - Year 8 certainly did! (NB. Most computers already have Movie Maker but it doesn't appear in the programme file menu. To make it work on your computer at home, go to 'Start' in the bottom left corner of the screen, then click 'Search' and type in 'Movie Maker' - normally you will then get a window with the Movie Maker icon in it, and you just double click to open it up.)

Have fun!

More resources for download

2007-02-24T13:18:00.000Z

Parents and visiting teachers can now see even more of what their child is studying in Geography at Cromwell. We are gradually placing more and more self-made resources onto to the 4shared site - mrburdett.4shared.com

New additions include lesson notes, past exam model answers, and PowerPoints about the 2007 Children's Map of the World Competition, the current Mozambique floods and how to build your very own Brazilian shanty town.

As always if you have any concerns or comments, contact us directly at school or via cromgeogNOSPAM@hotmail.co.uk (remember to remove 'NOSPAM' from the address).

cromgeog reaches the 1000 hit mark

2007-01-29T16:28:00.000Z

This site was begun in the last month of 2006. By the first month of 2007 we have already had 1000 hits on the site. Thanks for your support, and please keep visiting to keep up to date with lessons, resources and anything else to do with Geography at Cromwell Community College.

Mr Burdett and all the geography staff

cromgeoggcse to continue

2007-01-28T12:33:00.000Z

A reminder to all Year 11 and Year 10 Geography students that cromgeoggcse.blogspot.com is there for your benefit.

The trial period for this site aimed to help absent students keep up to date. The trial has been very successful and we will keep it running for the next term, to the end of the 'People and Place' topic you have recently started.

The information refers directly to what was covered in Mr Burdett's Year 11 lesson but will be useful to any student studying people and the issues surrounding where they live.

Parents can also keep up to date with the homework issued for Mr Burdett's group which is posted on the site over the weekend following it being set.

Add cromgeoggcse to your favourites now!

Antarctica websites

2007-01-19T15:25:00.000Z

George this is for you!

Class room Antarctica

Cool Antarctica
(This is Mr Ward's site - an excellent resource)

British Antarctic Survey- George if you visit this you can download ALL of the big resource pack that I gave to everyone in June.

Dive Discover
- useful ideas on the ecosystem in the bottom right of the page

Good luck!
Mr B.

Global Warming links for Year 9

2007-01-08T12:49:00.000Z

These links will help you if you are a year 9 student studying climate chaos. Remember not to copy and paste - make notes in your own words and then write it up when you are away from the computer before adding to your project.

Wikipedia
BBC minisite (includes animation)
Environmental Protection Agency (in the USA)
Newsround
Explain that stuff website
BBC again! (temperature animation)
Carbon calculator

Remember - scientific opinion is now in no doubt that climate change is happening and is caused by humans. If you want to know more about it, search the internet yourself and let your teacher know of any more useful websites.

Year 9 Olympic links

2007-01-04T09:34:00.000Z

These websites might help the Year 9 students with their Olympic country research. You will need to use several of them if you want to find all the information you need!

Facts about countries
CIA world factbook
Infoplease
Atlapedia
Countries and Cities
Countryfacts
Factmonster
And of course - the search engines!
Google
MSN
Yahoo
Ask
Ask for kids

When you get on to the second side, you need to find out about the city you have chosen for your country. Often the best one to do is the capital city as there is usually lots of information. For most countries the following websites might be useful:
Lonely Planet (make sure you type in your city to the search box at the top left)
Time Out
AOL City Guides
Rough Guides (choose the drop down menu under 'City')
MSN City Guides

A2 model answers

2006-12-21T09:17:00.000Z

I have put more A2 Coasts model answers in the A2 file sharing links (found in the A2 links section on the right hand side). I have put them in a sub-folder of the 'A2 Coasts' section. At present there are 5 model answers for you to look at. Most of them have comments you can view but I strongly suggest you read the essay first before you view the comments.
I will be putting one or two more model answers on the site today (Thursday 21st December) so check back after 4pm, but after today that will be it until January.
Happy Xmas!

Revision guide - advice on what to purchase

2006-12-19T14:25:00.000Z

Some of you (A2 students) were asking which revision books are good to buy.

My suggestions for the Coasts section of your exam are:
CGP AS Geography: Revision Guide by Richard Parsons - click here to visit Amazon for more details. NOTE THAT THIS IS AN AS TEXT AND CAN ONLY GIVE YOU A BRIEF IMPRESSION OF THE MAIN CONCEPTS - DO NOT RELY ON THIS AS YOUR MAIN TEXT
Access to Geography: Coasts and Coastal Management by Michael Hill - click here to visit Amazon for this

Remember that this close to Christmas you are unlikely to receive posted items very quickly so it may be worth using your NUS discount in a high street shop rather than saving money on the internet. If you are buying on the internet, why not save on postage costs by making a group order between yourself and a couple of friends? Most website don't charge over a certain amount.

Happy revising - and don't forget to keep checking back here this week for more updated past questions etc.

A2 mock exam reminder

2006-12-18T10:54:00.000Z

A very happy Christmas holiday to all the A2 Geography group. But don't party too hard - you are reminded that you have a FULL mock exam on the first Tuesday back in Dr Peryer's lesson, and then a second FULL mock exam on the second Monday back in Mr Burdett's lesson. You need to revise everything on coasts and tourism but NOT your Geographical Skills.

Happy revising!

Year 9 Options Time: Why choose Geography?

2006-12-13T19:11:00.000Z

Although options time doesn't happen until after Xmas, lots of you have been asking what you would cover if you studied GCSE Geography.

To help you make your decision, try visiting the Cromwell Options page which is packed with information about what we do in Year 10 and Year 11 Geography.

We think Geography is incredibly important - can you afford not to study rising sea levels, world poverty and deforestation? But we also want you to make the decision that's right for you. See your teacher in school if you aren't sure what you want to do.

In the lead up to options choices in January and February, you will have plenty of chance to see us to discuss your options. So relax and enjoy the festive season and don't worry about it all for a bit! But if you do want to get ahead, just visit our options page.

Brazilian food and drink

2006-12-11T13:04:00.000Z

Some Year 8 groups are finding out about food in Brazil. This information will help you to complete your work in class:

In Brazil, churrasco refers mainly to all of the meat cooked on the "churrasqueira", an oven with supports for spits or skewers, where the meat is put on.
Caruru is Brazilian food made from okra, onion, shrimp, palm oil and toasted nuts (peanuts and/or cashews).
Vatapá is Brazilian food made from bread, shrimp, coconut milk, palm oil and nuts (peanuts and/or cashews) mashed into a creamy paste.
In a real feijoada, every part of the pig is thrown into the pan. But the sight of the pig's ear, tail or snout floating in the feijoada will upset some people, so often only the best parts of the pig.
Guaraná is used as an ingredient in soft drinks and energy drinks and separately as a dietary supplement to promote health and weight loss.

Great site for all ages!

2006-12-07T18:49:00.000Z

We continually search the web for the best geographical resources around. You can see some great websites by following the links down the right hand side but we thought you might like to see this one. games4geog is a site dedicated to making Geography fun. All the games can be played in your browser window so there is no software to download.
Have fun!
www.games4geog.com

Dedicated blog for Mr Burdett's Year 11 class

2006-12-02T09:56:00.000Z

Mr Burdett's year 11 class now has a dedicated blog. A summary of what we covered in class, plus more information about the homework, will be added at the end of every lesson.

If you have been away, you can check in to see what you have missed - and often you will find links to useful websites to help you.

Visit cromgeoggcse now (full address http://cromgeoggcse.blogspot.com).

New links added

2006-12-01T15:46:00.000Z

There are new links in the A2 section found on the right hand side.

Especially important is the OCR Student Handbook. All Cromwell A level students were given a copy of this at the beginning of the AS course - keep looking at it while you are revising. It is especially important that you note the command word section. (There is also some help on the difference between describe and explain in the A2 file sharing links - again, follow the link to find it).

Remember if there is anything that would be useful that isn't there, let us know via cromgeog@hotmail.co.uk or tell us in school.

Some suggestions for 2686 essays - presentation methods

2006-11-30T11:52:00.000Z

Below are some suggestions on writing 2686 essays.

OCR A2 ‘A’ Geography: 2686
Some idea on essays about presentation methods:

Don’t actually bother drawing detailed examples unless you are specifically told to. Most of the time ‘the effort doesn’t justify the marks gained’.

…but it might be useful to have a quick example and then annotate to point out positive and negative as long as you refer to these ideas in the text.

If you are asked to critically assess/evaluate/discuss the effectiveness of a type of method think about:
Are there any class intervals? (In other words, groups of data.)
How are they decided – size and number? Does this lead to bias?
Where are the boundaries if it is a map?
What colours might be used and why?
Is the information being presented in % form? Absolute values? What is good and bad about each of these?

If you have to compare two or more methods, the same ‘checklist’ can be used.

If you have to ‘outline the steps taken’ to produce something think about:
The number of classes and justify why you would choose a certain number
The size of classes and justify why you would choose that number
A high mark might include a diagram
A high mark might refer to the method of construction (e.g. hand drawn, using a GIS map based software, using a spreadsheet like Excel)
Make sure you know the terms that you are referring to – do you know the difference between a histogram and a bar graph?

Our schemes of work are now online

2006-11-30T08:27:00.000Z

Anyone can now view some of our schemes of work online. Visiting teachers will find a link to the folder here. Please feel free to borrow whatever you need.

Also online are some of our video writing frames. At the moment it's just Japan and Brazil 2000, but over time we hope to add more.

Happy browsing!

About Geography at Cromwell

2006-11-29T22:29:00.000Z

At Cromwell, Geography is taught to every year group. In Years 7, 8 and 9 it is compulsory for all students. At GCSE, approximately 1/3rd of a typical year group will opt to continue studying with us, and we are one of the founding subjects of the brand new sixth form in Years 12 and 13.

There are several exciting developments in Geography at the moment:

We are one of the subjects (along with English and RE) selected to be part of the Specialist Status bid that will bring better learning opportunities to all students in Cromwell
All Geography classes are taught in the brand new, purpose built Humanities block
Geography has two of the school's interactive whiteboards
Our GCSE and AS level results have made us proud for yet another year - 77.7% of our GCSE intake achieved A*-C in 2006

We hope you will continue to visit this page to get more information as the blog develops.

Trips during GCSE

2006-11-29T21:50:00.000Z

These photos were taken during our field trip to study the effects of tourism on the Norfolk Broads - as always a hot sunny day - perfect for getting a tan (or sunburn).

These wildfowl live on the River Bure at Horning. But they aren't native - they are there because tourists feed them. What do you think that does to the local ecosystem?

This picture shows what a natural area should look like. You can see how full of wildlife it is - perfect for animals, plants - and people!

Japan test coming up for Year 7

2006-11-29T21:32:00.000Z

Year 7 will have their first Geography test before we break up for the Christmas holidays. Your teacher will tell you when you will sit your test.

Here are a few ideas of the kinds of things that might come up in the test. And no - we aren't going to tell you what the exact questions will be!

Where is Japan? Can you name some of the important physical features and cities?

How are people's lives different to people in the UK?

What problems does the Japan have? How have they solved them?

You have probably revised for tests before. These are a few tips from Mr Burdett's classes:

Read through your book to remind you what we have studied

Make a note of key place names and new Geography words (e.g. volcano) so you can spell them correctly

Ask someone at home to test you

Concentrate on the things you didn't understand in class

Ask for help from your teacher

If you missed a lesson, copy up from a friend so you have all the right information

Good luck Year 7!

Hola Brasil!

2006-11-29T21:17:00.000Z

Some Year 8 groups are doing a group project on Brazil. Have you tried using these websites to find information? Click on them to go straight to the website:

The Brazil Embassy in London

Wikipedia

Lonely Planet (travel guide)

Brazilian tourism

Food and drink (you can't make the alcholic ones though!)

The regions of Brazil

What the BBC has to say about Brazil

More about food and drink

More on the regions of Brazil from the Brazilian Embassy in London

And even more on the regions!

Amazon Rainforest

Living in the poor areas of cities

More on the poor areas of cities (be careful - some of this information isn't about Brazil)

If you have any more suggestions for useful websites, tell your teacher and ask them to pass them to Mr Burdett for adding to this list.

A2 online help is here!

2006-11-29T20:02:00.000Z

A2 Physical Geography students can now access new resources as soon as Mr Burdett has written them!

Use the 'A2 file sharing links' to link to Mr Burdett's online space. When you are there you may download any file in the folder. To download it, click on the file name and follow the instructions. It will open up a new screen - to download the file, scroll down to the bottom where there is a timer. That timer will change to a 'download' button when it has counted down. Please be aware that these files have not been checked for viruses - never download anything from the net unless you are sure that your antivirus software is up to date.

A2 students (and others) can see:

Model answers to past papers from the OCR A Geography specification
PowerPoint presentations used in class
Tips on how to get the most out of your revision
Suggestions on how to write essays
Copies of worksheets etc that we have used in class

Over the Xmas holidays I plan to put more help for you in the download folder - keep checking back to make the most of your revision.

Calling all Year 9 students: 5 (quick) reasons to do GCSE Geography

2006-11-28T19:06:00.000Z

The next post down has them in detail - but in case you are short of time, here goes...

1. Great results (more than 4 out of 5 students got A*-C last year with Geog@Cromwell)

2. Important issues - global warming, world poverty, rainforest destruction

3. Fieldtrips - Cambridge (yes you do get to go shopping), Hunstanton and the Norfolk Broads

4. Interactive whiteboards - don't just look in a book how a river forms, watch the drama unfold on the screen

5. Geography can be used for almost any post-16 course, and employers like it too

Need more convincing? Speak to any Geography teacher at Cromwell.

10 reasons to do Geography at Cromwell

2006-11-28T18:50:00.000Z

You will have several fieldtrips, and this is something we are constantly developing. Currently we go to Hunstanton, Cambridge and the Norfolk Broads during GCSE studies.
Geography is about important issues - can you afford not to know about global warming? Poverty in Africa? The destruction of the world's rainforests?
We get very high results in Geography at Cromwell Community College - in 2005 our students achived 81.7% A*-C and in 2006 77.7%.
We are a Specialist Status subject so you can be sure that you will get the very best that Cromwell can offer you.
Geography gives you life skills - map reading, ICT skills, and writing skills amongst them.
You will be taught in our brand new purpose-built block - a fantastic place to work.
Geography is at the forefront of the development of Cromwell's interactive whiteboards.
We use a huge amount of video, ICT and interactive whiteboard resources - all to help you get your grade.
Geography is a subject that can play to everyone's strengths - whether thats writing, graph making, map reading and so on.
Even if you aren't sure what you're going on to do after GCSE, Geography sets you up for it. A levels? Geography can help with a huge number of AS and A2 courses. Further training? Colleges view Geography as a subject that gives you transferable skills. A job? Any employer will be keen to see that you know about the world around you.
Ok, we said there were only 10... but Geography is the only subject where you learn to read a map - SatNav can break, but a map is for life!
At Cromwell you will be taught by a team that includes an examiner of Paper 2 and a past examiner of your course as well. We know what the examiner looks for, and will guide you to give it to the examiner.

Welcome to CromGeog

2006-11-26T00:55:00.000Z

Welcome to the first blog from the Geography Department of Cromwell Community College in Chatteris, Cambridgeshire, UK.

This site offers students the chance to find homework help, revision tips, useful weblinks and exam timetables. Visiting teachers may also find links to useful websites and our shared online space where you can download copies of our schemes of work, self made resources and classroom PowerPoints.

Whatever you are looking for, we hope you find it here - and if you have any suggestions for things to include, let us know via the email address at the top of the page.