Time is flying by - half term has gone so quickly! First exam for Year 11 geographers tomorrow - best of luck to everyone! This weeks ICT update (and the last edition - sorry for delay) - has been added. I have also updated the Geography in the News with the latest stories.

Its been a hectic couple of weeks with the preparations for the forthcoming exams and revision classes for Years 11-13 - hence the lack of updates to the website!

Anyway this weeks ICT update for staff has now been added (along with the last two weeks). I have also updated the Geography in the News with the latest news stories - including the severe tornadoes currently affecting parts of central USA.

There is a new design competition from the OS with the prize of an 8Gb iPod nano for the winning student and for the winning school an MPEG digital video camera!! The theme is Great Britain in 2050 - the OS is trying to get an understanding of how students perceive that the UK will be in 2050. For further details see this blog post on GeoBlogBytes http://geoblogbytes.wordpress.com/2007/05/05/design-competition-yrs-7-10-great-britain-in-2050/.

The department have set up two brand new bogs to run aside the GCSE blog which has been supporting GCSE students over the last few months.

GeoBlogBytes - the new main department blog on which all department news and the latest geographical stories will be noted as well as providing support and homework / coursework links for KS3, 4 and 5 classes (the homework / coursework support links are being trialled with Mr Chambers' classes throughout the summer term to see how useful they are - feedback is welcomed!)

Geobytes Advanced Extension - a new blog to support those A2 students currently preparing to sit their A2 Geography exams and the WJEC Advanced Extension Paper in Geography.

Direct links have been made from the homepage to make access as easy as possible!

Well its being a busy few weeks and although not all updates have been listed here there have been several! I hope everyone has had a great Easter break. I have just enjoyed two good days at the annual Geographical Association conference at the University of Derby where it was great to meet up with lots of colleagues from the Staffordshire Learning Net forum! Lots of great ideas and inspiration flowing around the conference and I am looking forward to hopefully trying out some of these ideas over the next term.

I have updated the Geography in the News page with the last 3 or 4 weeks worth of news stories links, including lots of new links regarding climate change and the tsunamis which sadly struck the Solomon islands over the Easter break.

I have also now finally managed to put online the last 3 staff ICT bulletin updates, including this weeks and these can be found on the updates page.

End of a week with lots of geographical events, including a devastating tornado in Alabama, USA and the eruption of Stromboli off of Sicily (Italy) - for links to these and other news stories see the updated Geography in the News Page.

Blog Updates - today the counter on GeoBytesGCSE blog ticked over the 20,000 mark - that is 20,000 hits since the end of November! There are two new updates to the blog today - one on 1950s/60s solutions to Inner City problems and the second on a Case Study of Urban Regeneration in the London Docklands

This weeks ICT bulletin for staff is now online - highlighting in particular some great environmental videos on Green TV as well as a new student based discussion forum - Geogalot!

Don't forget to check out the website of the week (see homepage) which for March is worldmapper - this great tool draws up maps with the territories proportional to the subject of interest - I managed to use some of these this week with Year 8 to illustrate the differences in exports / world trade between LEDCs and MEDCs - these maps provide a fascinating insight into differences across the world.

Phew... yet another week gone - this term is flying by! The countdown to exams is now well and truly on - revision classes start on Monday after school this week. If you haven't had information about them see your teacher for a letter. There are also timetables up around the department.

The Young Geography of the Year competition is now open (information available on the blog and on the Geographical Magazine website) - you should see posters appearing in all rooms and around the department this week - if you are interested in taking part speak to your teacher - there are some super prizes available and it would be great to see entries from St Ivo geographers!

Nearly the end of half term already - doesn't time fly!! Lots of geography in the news stories this week - again Climate Change and the impacts of seeming to dominate lots of articles - see here for this weeks links.

This week's staff ICT bulletin is now also online.

This years "Young Geography of the Year 2007" competition has just been launched with some amazing prizes, including expeditions to the Amazon and Namibia! For full details of the competition see the competition pages of the Geographical Magazine.

Phew..... we have finally made it to Half term and what a busy couple of months it has been! This week's staff bulletin (issue 55) has now been uploaded and last week's has also now been added to the archives (issue 54) - there are a number of interesting new ideas in the professional development section on the use of ICT / Wikis etc.

Lots of geography articles in the news this week - including more on climate change.

Its such a busy time at the moment - but half term is now approaching quickly!! This week's ICT bulletin (issue 53) has now been uploaded - hopefully there is something useful for staff and SLN colleagues!

End of another week - and only one more full week in January - where does the time go?! Welcome back to Year 12 students - remember the first two weeks back are project lessons so you will need to bring your projects with you - check with staff which computer rooms we will be using.

The 52nd edition of the ICT bulletin is now available on line (a year old already!) - hopefully there is something useful for staff and colleagues across the country.

Happy New Year to all and sorry for the delay in updates, its been a somewhat busy few weeks. As well as all the latest geography related stories from the news this week, which can found in "In the News", a new link has been added to the homepage for all those Year 8 students about to revise for the end of unit test on Egypt!

Hopefully the new year will bring lots of new development and updates to GeoBytes - lots of things are planned (just need the time!). For staff, the latest ICT bulletin (No 51) can be downloaded here.

December 3rd 2006

Christmas is approaching fast hence the new festive feel to the GeoBytes homepage (and the department itself from Monday!).

There have been a lot of geography related stories in the news this week - including the devastating mudslides which have hit the Philippines after the country was hit by Typhoon Durian. For the full round up of this weeks geographical news stories see "In the News".

This week's ICT bulletin for staff is the 50th bulletin so watch out for the bumper issue! (download in .pdf format!)

Well its been quite a month this month - hence the lack of updates although there are now various new updates to be aware of. The Kenya trip in October was amazing (as usual) and an account of the trip with photographs will be added around Christmas time. Congratulations to all those who helped raise £2000 for Kimbo primary school - photographs of the school and the students who will be benefit greatly from this money will be posted soon.

This week's updates:

I have launched a brand new blog GeoBytesGCSE aimed specifically at KS4 students (Years 10 and 11) - it will follow the Year 10 syllabus through to the end of Year 11 and hopefully it will provide a useful source of revision resources for all GCSE students.

Brand new conundrum style games in GeoGames an example for erosion processes here

The most recent ICT update bulletin (issue 49) for staff has now been added to the Department section of the site (incorporating this week and last week's bulletin) and In the News has been updated with this week's latest news stories from the BBC and other new sites.

Year 8 Population tests will be taking place over the next couple of weeks - resources to support students revision can be found here

Its been a busy few weeks but we are in October already - doesn't time fly! The Year 10 coasts trips to Dunwich and the Year 12 data collection fieldwork at Holkham Bay went very well this week and the countdown is now on to our visit to Kenya!! Students and staff have been busy raising money over the last couple of weeks for Kimbo Primary school which we will be visiting during out trip. As well as a 24 hour sponsored fast, a very successful cake stall was held this week. Many thanks to all those that donated cakes as well as to all students and staff who have kindly supported our fund raising either through giving time and/or sponsorship - it is really much appreciated - we will publish the final amount raised here soon!

Ok - so what's new this week? The most recent ICT update bulletin for staff has now been added to the Department section of the site (apologies for the lack of bulletin last week) and In the News has been updated with this week's latest news stories from the BBC and other news sites.

Well the end of the first week is over already! Back into the swing of it! My apologies to anyone who has been trying to access Geobytes over the last week, unfortunately due to circumstances beyond my control it has been offline, however we are now back! The main geographical stories of last week have been updated in the In the News section and for staff, Education 44 of the GeoBytes ICT update is now online.

Welcome back as we start the new term and congratulations to all GCSE and A'level students on their results. The main geographical news stories from the last two weeks have now been updated in the In the News section - lots of flood stories over the summer. A number of new updates this week from work completed over the summer:

Geography of Happiness - I have been involved over the summer in a project with 11 other geography teachers from across the country funded by the GA and RGS looking at Happiness as an index of quality of life across Europe. In total 6 European countries have been visited and interviews undertaken. I visited Amsterdam with a teacher from London and the results of the project, including the videos which have now been edited have been published on the internet - you can read more about the project, see the Amsterdam videos and access the project website through the new Geography of Happiness page.

Edition 43 of the GeoBytes ICT update for staff has now been uploaded

A summary of the weeks main Geographical News Stories can be found catalogued in the In the News section

A summary of the weeks main Geographical News Stories can be found catalogued in the In the News section

A summary of the weeks main Geographical News Stories can be found catalogued in the In the News section

This months website of the month is Discovering Antarctica - take yourself on a virtual exploration of this fascinating continent (includes excellent images and video files)

A summary of the weeks main Geographical News Stories can be found catalogued in the In the News section

Discovering Antarctica - A fantastic new website on Antarctica has been opened, funded by the RGS-IGB, British Antarctic Survey and the Foreign and Commonwealth Polar Regions Unit - Discovering Antarctica has a wealth of resources, including images, video, audio and written articles - well worth exploring http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/5061322.stm 

GeoNews - links to BBC articles on Global Refugees and the new UK Climate Ambassador have been added in In the News

An earthquake measuring 6.2 struck Java, just before 6am on May 27th 2006 - over 5,000 killed

GeoNews - The Island of Java is under Red Alert as Mount Merapi threatens to erupt - for links to the full story - see the news item on Merapi in GeoNews

GeoNews - Chernobyl Update - 26th April 2006 marked the 20 year anniversary of the disastrous explosions at Chernobyl - find out more about the disaster here - this is a case study used in Year 11 (GCSE) to explore the Nuclear Debate related to energy use

GeoGames - several new interactive games have been added to the site:

Year 11 Revision - Coastal Erosion / Deposition Practice Paper - A new interactive practice paper which will allow you to practice answering an exam question and then check it against a model answer - more will be added over the next few weeks.

Year 11 Revision - Case study Dominoes added here - also Key Terms Mastermind games for Rivers, Coasts and Plate Tectonics - can be downloaded here (large files)

In the News - Today is the 100th anniversary of the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 - find out more about the disaster and the current threats faced by those living in the San Francisco area.

Year 11 Revision - Revision Dominoes have now been uploaded for Coasts, Population, Plate Tectonics, Population and Settlement - they can be downloaded here - ammended flashcards have also been uploaded here

GeoPhotographs - New Images of Italy (Thanks to Val Vannet of Dundee High School for kindly sending through and giving her permission for these great images from Italy (include Capri, Sorrento, Rome, Vesuvius, Herculaneum and Pompeii

Podcasting To support your revision, we are launching a series of new podcasts based on topics in the GCSE syllabus - the first Podcast series to be released is "COASTS" - this is a series of 6 podcasts based on the key concepts that you are required to be familiar with for the Coastal Environments section of the OCR A GCSE syllabus - any feedback on the usefulness of the Podcasts or suggestions for new Podcasts would be much appreciated and will help us to decide on future podcast series. We hope over the next few years to build up a library of podcasts based on the GCSE topics we cover.

Update to In the News - Breaking News from the BBC has reported that a strain of the Avian Flu virus has been found in a Dead Swan in Fife - more details are expected to be confirmed tomorrow.

Web Counter - You will have spotted that we have now added a counter to the homepage of GeoBytes so we can see just how many visitors we get. Remember there is a G-visit Google Map showing where our visitors come from, but this counter will give a more immediate indication of visitor numbers. Of course only just having been added - it doesn't look very impressive at the moment and it doesn't take into account the hundreds that have already visited since we've been online - but we have to start somewhere with our count!

Year 11 Revision - For those of you who attended last week's Masterclass on Revision Methods and Techniques you will remember talking about the use of mind-maps as a way of organising your thoughts and revision - some interactive Mind-Maps will be appearing on the St Ivo GCSE Revision site over the next few weeks, but there is also a fantastic Mini Mind-Mapper Tool for you to use online to create your own mind-maps which you can adapt using colour and formatting and then print-out - the link above takes you directly to this excellent resource which is on the Neal-Wade School website (many thanks to Andrew Field for this!)

Update to In The News - with all the latest news stories - includes:

Update to GeoPhotographs - the new photo galleries added over the last couple of weeks have not been working properly - however these have now been completed updated and all thumbnails are now visible! Photos from the Year 12 Travel and Tourism visit to Cadburys world last Wednesday have also been added

Updated Files:

GCSE (Year 11) - New Revision Resources link activated - more materials to be added over the next couple of weeks - keep checking back here!

In the News - A huge oil spill has been discovered in the Prudhoe Bay area of Alaska with catastrophic implications for the environment

In the News - 6th-17th March is the 2006 annual Fairtrade Fortnight - find out more about it here.

Practice Past Papers - new interactive flash past papers for GCSE / AS / A2 students - these will be added to the site within the next month in preparation for the forthcoming summer exams. At the moment an A2 Ecosystems 5 mark Questions example has been added to the site as a preview

In the News: Sea Empress Disaster - 10 Years on. 15th February 2006 marked the 10th anniversary of the Sea Empress Oil Disaster - new reports ask "Have lessons been learn" - find out more about the disaster and the environmental impact and recovery with these links.

In the News - Underwater Treasure Trove discovery - Some of the richest marine biodiversity has been found in the Caribbean In the News: Marine Life Treasure Trove Found

GeoGames  

Year 9 Mount Pinatubo Assignment - this has been updated and research links have been checked - please check with your individual class teacher as to hand in dates and time available for project check out the task and online references here

GeoGames - two new multiple choice quizzes for the collection! These are in the new "large" format - which means they can be played on the screen or used by staff on the data projector.

GeoLinks  - An update of both KS4 and KS5 Population links with a new series of links related to China's One Child Policy (Thanks to Dr S Hitch, King Edward VI Grammar School for suggestions on SLN).

Year 7 The Year 7 Mapskills Revision pages have been updated to include links to new interactive resources for practising applying mapskills such as giving directions, using symbols, using grid references, calculating direction etc! Well worth checking out!

In the News... - in order to keep more up-to-date with all the latest stories related to geographical issues, human, physical and environmental, around the world, a new "In the News" section has been included to regularly update the latest stories with key links (more detailed reports with links will continue to be added where appropriate).

COASTAL EROSION NEWS: Following severe storms in December, coastal erosion across the country has increased. Happisburgh, a village on the North Norfolk coast, which experiences rapid coastal erosion has been left with a number of properties now dangerously close to the cliff edge. Reports in newspapers and the internet have highlighted the plight of a block of terraced houses which includes the Cliff House Guesthouse and Tea room, which is unlikely to be there in 18 months. In fact if rates of erosion continue as there are, it is likely that by the Spring, the buildings will be too close to the edge and the tea shop / guesthouse will have been forced to close. For a full account of the problem and some links to some excellent sites which highlight the plight of Happisburgh, the likely economic costs of the erosion, as well as some excellent images of the effects, see this new article in the GeoNews section. Coastal erosion and its effects is an integral part of both the GCSE and A' level syllabi and this is a great up-to-date case study.

To start the new year off, GeoBytes has been updated to include some brand new revision resources for the Year 12 AS course to support the Unit 1 Modules:

Revision Resources - Physical Environments Exam -  ready for Jan 2006 exams (Completely overhauled to fit in with the new Geography Online Learning Community - Earth Systems fully updated - Coasts and Rivers in progress) - includes summary notes, model answers, glossaries etc.

Also why not try out our link of the month Dive and Discover from Woods Hole Oceanography Institution - this documents the exciting discoveries of searching the ocean depths which helps to provide us with evidence as to how our planet works - check out the Deeper Discovery links on Anatomy of the Earth, History of the Earth, Plate Tectonics etc.. This support our work on plate tectonics at KS3, 4 and 5. The site is based on a series of exciting underwater explorations of the Pacific and Indian Ocean. There are past accounts, including photos and video of explorations of the East Pacific Ridge, Juan de Fuca ridge; Galapagos Rift. The organisations 10th exploration is due to take place in February 2006, when they will explore one of the coldest and most remote places on the planet - the Southern Ocean, surrounding Antarctica, an area that Year 8 students will be studying later in the year! The expedition is taking place from February 21st to March 10th - look out for a reminder of this on GeoBytes! (Many thanks to Viking Dave from SLN for the suggestion!)

Year 9 Natural Environments Revision - for those Year 9 students who haven't yet completed their end of unit Natural Environments test, check out the Natural Environments Revision pages - there are some summary notes on some of the key topic areas and there are also some revision quizzes / flash cards to help you with your revision (Check out the new Rainforest Revision Penalty Shootout). You can click on the blue link above, see the direct link from the homepage or visit the Natural Environments section in the KS3 pages.