Mr. McLeman teaches Standard Grade Geography to S3 and S4 pupils in the School. He also teaches Geography, Modern Studies and RME to S1 and S2 pupils and Third year P.S.D.

Amongst other things Mr McLeman is currently chair of The Shetland Social Subjects Panel, Coordinates Primary to Secondary Transition for the school, runs the Secondary Teachers Tapestry Partnership group, and the Secondary Pupil Council. 

S1 Classes

S1 pupils rotate between Mr Johnson and Mr McLeman. Below is a brief outline of the topics studied each term when with Mr McLeman. See the panel on the left for information on the topics studied while with Mr Johnson.

 

 

Desert Island Adventure, decision making and participation

Term 1 - August to October (20 Periods)

 This unit is based around the idea that the class has been shipwrecked together on a deserted island and have to establish their own society. Issues such as the needs and wants of individuals, rules and laws, rights and responsibilities, before going on to discuss representation and political decision making at local, national and international levels.

 

Atlas and Map Skills

Term 2 - October to December (20 Periods)

This unit builds on work completed in primary school on how atlases and maps can and should be used to gather information and locate places in the world. The concepts of understanding latitude and longitude, scale, distance and direction are developed before learning how to use grid references to describe the location of places on maps. Traditional Atlases, Ordnance Survey and commercial maps are used alongside GIS software, Google Earth and Google maps to gather, interpret and present geographical information on a local, national and international scale.

 

A World of Contrasts

- a case study of Scotland and India

Term 3 - January to March (30 Periods)  

This unit examines the differences that exist between developed and developing countries around the world; it examines the historical, environmental, and socio-economic reasons for the development gap and how we can measure development. The reasons behind, and effects of, third world debt are examined along with solutions including Fair Trade and Third World Debt cancellation. Scotland and India are used as case studies to highlight the differences between the developed and developing countries of the world, drawing on comparisons in school between Sandwick JHS and our link school in Tharangambadi, India.

 

Weather & Climate

Term 4 - April to June (30 Periods)

 

Pupils start by learning the difference between weather and climate. They then look at the local climate and compare it to climate in other places of the world by learning how to use and draw climate graphs. The unit goes on to identify the factors that affect climate before looking in detail at the hot desert climate and factors such as the reasons for its location and how the vegetation, people and animals in these regions are affected by this type of climate.

 

 

 

S2 Classes