Key Stages 3 & 4 at Mougins School

In Year 7, our Global Perspectives programme will include the much-loved ‘Local Studies’ course, where children go out into the local area to visit sites of cultural or natural interest, creating topic work on their findings on their return to the classroom. Students learn a range of geographical enquiry skills during the year which they put into practice on these trips. These skills include land-use mapping, field sketching, asking and answering geographical questions and carrying out environmental quality surveys and traffic surveys.

The programme of trips is constantly evolving but usually includes visits to:

• Domaine d'Astros apple orchard in Vidauban
• La Grotte de St Cézaire limestone caverns
• Plateau de Caussols karst scenery
• Fragonard perfume factory in Grasse
• Moulin d'Opio olive oil mill
• Vial mimosa plantation in Tanneron
• Biot glassworks
• Terre de Soleil animal rescue centre in St Cezaire
• Lac St Cassien reservoir
• Jardins du Musée Internationale de la Parfumerie in Mouans-Sartoux
• The historic villages of Mouans Sartoux and Mougins

Local Studies is a highly popular programme with Mougins students and, years later, they often reminisce about the great experiences they had on Local Studies trips.

Local Studies is an open door to adventure!
We learn about plants, animals and the environment.
In local studies we also look at geography which is a really important skill to have in your life. 
We think, we write and we draw!
Local studies is an awesome class to explore and study places to develop our skills."
Daris C, Student in Year 7

The Local Studies/Global Perspectives curriculum has the Mougins School values at its heart:

The students are taught to respect and appreciate their local environment and to take actions at a local level that have positive consequences on both a local and global scale. For example, they learn about how to assess environmental quality using the bi-polar semantic differential scale technique and they apply this to the school campus. As well as learning an important geography fieldwork technique, the students appreciate how fortunate they are to attend a school with such high environmental quality. It also makes them reflect on what actions they could take to improve environmental quality e.g. by picking up litter.

Through learning about a range of environmental and social problems and solutions, the students realise the importance of their personal choices in effecting positive change. They understand that integrity includes reflecting on how local actions can have global effects and that 'doing the right thing' can make the world a better place. Our young environmentalists enjoy learning how small changes in their lifestyles can reduce their carbon footprint and their personal contribution to climate change. They also appreciate that buying a fair trade banana or chocolate bar can make a world of difference to the lives of farming families elsewhere in the world.

The programme has helped Mougins School develop positive links within the wider community of our local area. We have long-standing relationships with local businesses and community groups through our regular visits to sites of interest. For example, we are welcomed every year by the Terre de Soleil animal rescue centre in Saint Cezaire-sur-Siagne and we have also worked with the Paddle Cleaner association to clean up litter along the banks of the river in Auribeau.

We think it is important to support children as they go through the challenges of their teenage years, and we offer a diverse programme of personal, social, health and economic education. In these lessons we cover a range of topics including self-awareness and resilience, sex education and consent, relationships, mental health and wellbeing, maintaining good health and balanced lifestyles, drugs and other dangerous substances.