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The Lower Sixth Geography students took part in a five-day residential fieldtrip as part of their A Level studies just before May Half Term.
A key part of their A Level experience, the trip was designed to consolidate much of the learning from the year, as well as to introduce students to a range of geographical data collection techniques that they can use in their own A Level coursework projects, worth 20% of the final grade. The trip was to Slapton Ley in Devon, and facilitated by the expert geographers at the Slapton Ley field centre.
After an early start and a long coach journey, the first investigation involved calculating the amount of carbon stored in an area of woodland – a useful exercise given the challenges of climate change and the role that trees play in taking and storing carbon. Next the students spent a day exploring Start Bay, and the movement of beach sediment around the bay, not helped by the dredging of an offshore sand bar in the 19th century which removed much of the sediment. Natural processes since then have reduced the size of many of the beaches and the famous sand bar at Slapton.
On the final morning our pupils studied water cycling and investigated ways to measure infiltration of rain into the ground. Human geographical studies involved a day trip to Plymouth to investigate social inequality, and the students visited a number of suburban locations of varying levels of wealth (according to the most recent census data). The students also visited a series of rural locations to investigate a range of themes about bus service cuts, lack of access to services, and rural isolation.
The trip was hard work, with students working until late into the evening. They were a credit to themselves and learnt a great deal. It was the first A Level Geography residential trip for many years because of the restrictions of COVID, and so it was great to finally get out exploring again!
Pupil Serena Fellingham said: ‘The fieldtrip to Slapton can be described as both captivating and intriguing. I loved being able to perform statistical tests on real data that we had collected that day, and particularly enjoyed carrying out our own independent investigations. My time at Slapton not only helped me to understand and learn ways of collecting data for my NEA project, including cost-benefit analysis of coastal management techniques and beach profiling, but also confirmed my love for geography and being out in the field.’
Dr. Richard Bustin, Head of Geography.