GERMAN EXCHANGE…

A group of 20 Ridgeway students travelled to our partner school in Germany this year to take part in the German exchange. Before leaving emails were sent each week to our German hosts, but this week was a chance to finally meet up in person.

We were set the challenge of cooking a traditional German dinner working from a menu all in the foreign language as well as a scavenger hunt around the school and attending some lessons.

Outside of school we visited the cathedral, football stadium, the Jewish ghetto museum and many more fascinating places. The indoor market or Kleinmarkthalle was a particular favourite. 

Well done to all the students, who had a great attitude towards speaking a foreign language on this trip and were a credit to the school. We look forward to welcoming the Germans to our school in 2025.

Mr J Robertson

LANGUAGE LEADERSHIP…

On Wednesday 13th of March, six of our seventeen Year 10 Language Leaders passed one more of their leadership tests. They went to East Wichel Primary school and taught a French lesson to two Year 6 classes. The feedback from both students and teachers was very positive and our Language Leaders made us proud, as always. A special thank you to Mr. Bishop from driving us and for being so patient. Well done everyone!

Mrs A Melo

A LEVEL GEOGRAPHY TRIP TO BRIGHTON…

On Monday 11th and Tuesday 12th March, the Year 12 Geography students visited the Sussex coast and Brighton to complete their A level fieldwork to gain skills and practice for their upcoming coursework (NEAs).  

The day started off with a visit to West Beach at Littlehampton where students completed coastal studies, including beach profiles and investigating the coastal management in place. Students also completed some fieldwork on the sand dunes, comparing the vegetation cover on protected/fenced areas and unprotected areas. We also managed an opportunistic interview with a member of staff involved with beach replenishment schemes in the area, who informed us that they were transporting the additional shingle at West Beach 20 miles west to replenish the eroded beach at Selsey. 

After a short drive along the coast, it was time to go on the Brighton i360 tower, gave us a clear 360˚ view of the urban area. The students absolutely loved spotting the art and graffiti on buildings, as well as identifying the different housing and land-use. They also managed to see some famous sites such as the derelict West Pier and Brighton’s Royal Pavilion. Students finished the day with few arcade games at Palace Pier and dinner out near Preston Park. 

On Tuesday, we out to complete human geographical studies, however the weather was typically British and created some challenging fieldwork conditions. Students worked together to look for evidence of gentrification at Seven Dials and then walked to Churchill Square shopping centre and The Lanes, to complete retail value and clone town surveys to compare the different areas of town.  

The final stops on our day involved comparing different residential areas, looking at housing quality, completing car age surveys and testing out our ArcGIS questionnaire. We had a quick visit to look at regeneration in Brighton Marina before heading back to school. Thank you to all the Year 12 Geographers for working so well together, as well as Mr Halsall for accompanying us on the trip. 

Miss A Curtis-Slater