Year 9 take a wet and wild geography trip

On Monday 25^th September, pupils from year 9 came face to face with the power of water and discovered some of the methods mankind uses to tame it. This two-part annual year 9 geography trip to Houtan Wetlands Park and the coastal area of Nanhuizui Guanhai Park is designed to show pupils how flood defences protect Shanghai against flooding and extreme weather, helping to contextualise the vitally important issue of climate change and our role in reducing its impact. Due to the flatness and soft sediment of the land surrounding Shanghai, the combination of its rapid expansion and rising sea levels means that Shanghai is one of the world’s most ‘at risk’ cities in terms of the negative impacts of climate change. The city has spent $6 billion since 2011 on improving and expanding its flood defences, an investment which continues to rise each year. For our geography pupils, this field trip represented an opportunity to improve their understanding of how humanity protects itself from the ever-changing risks posed by nature, while also searching for more sustainable, effective and harmonious solutions to address those risks. At both parks, pupils were given the opportunity to inspect the various forms of flood defences and engineering works designed to channel and divert truly massive volumes of water in cases of extreme weather. They were able to examine different examples of both ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ engineering, since both approaches are vitally important to protect Shanghai. The pupils learned how ‘hard’ engineering works – manmade structures including curved concrete sea walls, levees, floodgates and ‘rip rap’ stone blocks – are combined with ‘soft’ engineering, such as cultivated wetlands, grasses and other natural, organic installations which act like giant sponges soaking up excess water before it intrudes on the city limits. Appropriately enough, our intrepid field-trippers were greeted with pouring rain and howling winds during their visit. While this made it more difficult to accurately record their data, it did at least help them visualise the need for the flood defences, since the water was already hammering the coast! Following the trip, year 9 have started a project based on the analysis of their fieldwork. Pupils were tasked with assessing each type of flood defence they encountered; they graded multiple factors, including the effectiveness, sustainability and aesthetic qualities of both hard and soft engineering works. They were asked to consider the best approach to protecting Shanghai from flooding in the future, and whether that should in involve the development of more hard or soft engineering works, or a combination of both. Each pupil will contribute their findings to a shared online database, allowing them to see which defences were considered to be the most beneficial with regard to the different criteria being analysed. This will give them invaluable insight into the challenges continually faced by engineers, urban planners and governments whenever they try to tackle complex issues such as balancing economic needs against environmental considerations. Additionally, the trip served as a valuable demonstration of how climate change continues to affect our world and how we must all play our part in mitigating its impact. By gaining a greater understanding of the threat posed by flooding and extreme weather, year 9 pupils have been able to consider their own contribution to climate change and have been encouraged to try different ways of reducing their carbon footprint. This approach reinforces two of our core Wellington values of respect and responsibility; we aim to help pupils to try and maintain a more ecologically sustainable lifestyle while respecting the powerful yet delicate characteristics of nature itself. If you’re interested in following year 9’s example, why not review your own carbon footprint and discover some simple yet effective ways of lowering it? Matthew Corke Head of humanities / geography teacher