On the 2nd of June, Year 9 pupils boarded the buses (where many McCandless seatbelts were put in place) and hit Ballycastle and The Causeway with a bang. Firstly we arrived at the Causeway and got into our form class groups and were handed out our booklets. After a quick toilet stop and a browse round the gift shop and information centre, we were soon ready for a long walk; or were we? We found out a variety of facts and historical events that never crossed our minds. There was a collection of monuments and rocks formed by geographical processes into shapes like a camel, organ, duck, boot and even old women! Promptly after that we ate a well-deserved packed lunch and took in the landscape. We learnt about rocks, formation, erosion and many other interesting geographical settings. One by one we boarded our buses and headed for Ballycastle. Each person had a group of three that they got into and started the trail on our designated spot. We walked round many places in Ballycastle and found out clues to fill in our booklets. Ballycastle was a lovely place we saw the beach, shops and other eye catching places. Overall Year 9 really enjoyed the trip and came home with a lot of new knowledge about a variety of topics, and something unusual for a June day-a little sunburn!

By Amy Woodall 9T

During our spring term all Year 8 classes had the delight of receiving a visit from Mr David Thomas who is a volunteer for Christian Aid. During this visit we focused on the earthquake in Haiti, how it occurred, the aftermath and what Christian Aid did to help the citizens of Haiti. Read More

What’s the first thing you think of when you hear “Geography Workshop?” Most likely you would not imagine making pyramids with toothpicks and marshmallows, would it? I didn’t know what to expect when we walked into the John Armstrong Hall to attend The Christian Aid Geography Workshop. There was the deafening sound of fifty teenagers, rumbling away like Mount Krakatoa on a bad day.

A few minutes later,  a man walked in and explained that he represented Christian Aid, who specialises in helping developing countries who have a high degree of poverty. He then told us a very interesting story of a man who had been trapped in a collapsed office building for 2 HOURS after an earthquake hit his city. His resilience to survive was incredible.  After this, the marshmallows and toothpicks came into play. He laid them out irregularly around the tables and challenged us to construct an earthquake- resistant structure with it.  Our group decided to make a pyramid, which seemed like a good idea, as the pyramids at Giza seemed to have withstood the test of time pretty well. We were quite pleased when it survived the simulated earthquake (a shake of the table), without collapsing.

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