Our J2 pupils at St Peter's 8-13 enjoyed a fascinating talk from the Environment Agency on Thursday 10 March as part of their geography syllabus on flooding.
St Peter's 8-13 welcomed Lori Thurston, Engagement Officer for the York Flood Alleviation Scheme, and her colleague Habib, a graduate engineer, who spoke to the J2s about historical flooding in York, climate change and flood defence schemes.
The content of the talk itself looked at various methods of flood defence, including flood gates and walls to protect homes and businesses as well as grass embankments.
The pupils were shown aerial pictures of York as it was when flooded in 2015 and particular focus was given to the Foss barrier, which stops the Foss from flooding. We were told that the Foss barrier protects 1600 properties from flooding and is capable of pumping water from the Foss to the Ouse at a rate of 50 tonnes per second. We looked at a map of the city and considered which buildings and businesses were most at threat. Consideration was given to how Jorvik Viking Centre was flooded and the impact this had on local business and tourism.
The focus then shifted to current projects, such as raising the embankments in the Museum Gardens and underground barriers at Clementhorpe, along with raising new embankments and creating a cycle path at Clifton Ings. We learnt that the Environment Agency have worked on raising flood banks on the edges of the school grounds and discovered that they recently planted 18 trees on our school site. The pupils appreciated seeing identifiable images of the school grounds and local sights.
The final part of the talk focused on flood warnings and asked the pupils to reflect on how they can be prepared for floods in future.
The talk was well received by pupils who described it as 'very interesting'. Sebastian said: "It was good to know dates about when flooding has happened in York. I also liked seeing York from a different perspective."
