It feels good to be wrapping up some of our subjects ready for our Summer break. Our settlement topic was our last Geography topic and I actually feel like we ticked it off big time thanks to the Settlement Topic Pack from Oaka Books.

I must admit all of this is out of my comfort zone. I prefer the earth geography topics to the human geography so I have really found having this topic pack and the Population Topic Pack incredibly valuable. I read both of them before we started on our Human Geography topic, they helped me get a few facts straight and just gave me the confidence to cover this section with my daughter.

So what is covered in the KS3 Settlement Pack –

• what is a settlement
• site factors (water supply, shelter, defence, transport)
• types of Settlements (hamlet, village, town, city, megacities)
• settlement patterns
• settlement functions
• shops and services
• case study: Olympic village
• KS3 supplement includes urbanisation, poorer countries, squatter and slum areas an how can they be improved).

We like the concise blocks of information in the Topic Booklet and the Write Your Own notes are great at reinforcing all the facts.

Then of course our favourite part the Active Learning Game. “The best way to conclude any topic is by playing one of these games” – quote from my daughter. The kids get to test their own knowledge in a relaxed manner and I get to see if there are any gaps or misunderstandings that need to be sorted out.

I always recommend the Oaka Topic packs but I do have to admit that for me they work at their very best on the topics that I am not that keen on. And after completing the pack my daughter told me that the Oaka packs are her favourite Geography resource (and coming from her that is high praise).