Harrodian's year 11 Geographers honed their practical skills on their annual field trip to sunny Dorset in mid September.
Alongside its traditional English seaside charms, Swanage on the Jurassic Coast has both the physical and human ingredients that make it an ideal location for an all-round field trip. So their annual visit to Leeson House on the Isle of Purbeck gives our GCSE pupils a real chance to turn geographical theory into practice.
The pupils spent three days gathering, analysing and evaluating data in different settings. On day one they visited Studland Bay to assess the impacts of human footfall and coastal erosion on the sand dunes. On day two, they visited the beach at Swanage to measure how successful the wooden groynes built 20 years ago have been in restricting sand drift before turning their attention to the evolving character of the town and its changing appeal as a tourist destination.
Finally, on day three, they headed north to Wareham to examine and measure changes in the width, depth and velocity of the evocatively named River Piddle as it moves downstream to reach the sea at Poole Harbour.
'The Isle of Purbeck is great. It has everything we need as four very different research environments are within half an hour's drive,' says Head of Geography, Kerry Shaw. 'It's a great place for field work and for getting to know the pupils outside the classroom at the same time.'
See more pictures of the 15s in our Geography Field Trip Gallery
