It’s been a busy fortnight for the Geography Department, with both our Year 11s and A Level Geographers taking advantage of the September sunshine to complete a day each of fieldwork

On Wednesday 14^th September, Year 11 travelled to FSC Juniper Hall in Surrey for a day of Rivers Fieldwork. This is the second of two compulsory days of fieldwork required as part of our iGCSE course. In the morning, pupils were based at Abinger Hammer Sports Club, where they were introduced to the aims of the day and received expert tuition from the FSC Juniper Hall staff on the River Tillingbourne and the geographical enquiry process. Mr Roberts and I were both very impressed with their positive engagement and excellent participation in discussions in this classroom session.

Our investigation question for the day was ‘How does the River Tillingbourne change as you travel downstream?’ and to collect data for this, pupils visited two sites; Abinger Hammer village and Crossways Farm. They measured the width, depth and velocity at each location, whilst reflecting on the strengths and limitations of the methods they were using. Pupils will now have a couple of follow up lessons in school on this fieldwork, which will be assessed in the summer Paper 1 exam.

My thanks to Mr Roberts, Mrs Mewett and our minibus drivers for helping to make the day a success.

On Wednesday 21^st our A Level Geographers travelled to Margate. This is one of four compulsory days of fieldwork required as part of our A Level course. Later in the year, pupils will complete an NEA Independent Investigation worth 20% of their A Level Grade. Here is a nice summary of the trip from one of our pupils:

We went on a trip to Margate to see the regeneration tactics used to help bring new life to the area. We visited the Turner Contemporary Art Gallery and Dreamlands Park. We also used the trip to practice our fieldwork techniques and different ways of collecting data. – Joseph T, Year 12