Yr11 Swanage Geography Fieldtrip

On Friday 1^st October, five members of the Geography Squad, namely Mr Warner, Mrs Messenger, Miss Coates, Miss Miles and Miss Ashby, plus an honouree member from the English Department, Mrs Sadd, made the early morning departure from school to Swanage, with 100 Year 11 geographers.

On arrival, it was a short walk down to Swanage Bay. Due to the cooler temperatures the beach was nice and quiet: a perfect set up to carry out geographical investigations. The aim for the day was to explore, ’What coastal processes can be identified on Swanage Beach’.  Students achieved the answer to this by measuring longshore drift, determining the beach profile, calculating the amount of sediment on the north and south sides of the groynes and taking pictures, as well as making field sketches. The students were brilliant at listening to instructions and working in their team classes.

After completing the investigations on the bay, everyone headed north, along the south west coastal path. The students were able to take in the amazing views of the coastline on a sunny, clear day. The walk took them past Ballard Point and down to Old Harry Rocks. The students enjoyed seeing geography in action and were all encouraged to send a picture of the stack to somebody on their phone.

After enjoying the view at Old Harry Rocks the geographers made their way to their final destination, Studland Bay.

Students and staff had a great day down at the coast; they all thoroughly enjoyed being out of the classroom and seeing geographical detail in real life.

Now, the geographers are looking forward to the human geography fieldtrip to Oxford, which is happening in March 2022.

Many thanks to all the staff involved, without their organisation the day would not have been the success it was. Well done to all the students, who made GMS proud of the way they conducted themselves.