Term 1 has seen a flurry of Geography field trips in Year 11 and 12.

Three Year 11 classes investigated the Central New Brighton Environment, collecting data and making observations that will lead them to an idea for further improvement for the area. This was part of a new NCEA Level 1, 5 credit assignment to show understanding of an environment using data. A number of lads commented that the future of New Brighton will only get better, and some made the observations that it would be cool to live there in a high rise with lots of glass – to stop the Easterly. The Year 11 boys have their second field trip later in the year when the will visit Quake City to investigate the decisions made after the 2010/2011 Christchurch earthquakes.

Our two Year 12 Geography classes have also been out and about. Completing a local field trip based in and around Bottle Lake Forest, where the boys had to map and plan their own Weetbix TRYathlon Course and event, using GIS (Geographic Information Systems). This started with planning on Google Earth Pro, a desktop mapping application, then the boys had to walk their course and plan the event, including the traffic management aspect. This is a great lead in, as next year they venture to Queenstown to study the planning, management and impact of the Queenstown International Marathon.

Main article photo - 11GEO New Brighton 1 – Mr Skinner’s class after mapping the land use patterns in Central New Brighton