Beth Martin Nixon writes about the recent Geography fieldtrip:
After an eight-hour coach journey, and several stops off at McDonald’s, we finally arrived at the Swanage Centre! We had our welcome meeting before our evening dinner and we had free time before lessons to discover the grounds of where we were staying. After an hour and half of lessons, we all went into the big dome to play badminton and football. My friends and I also went on to the balcony to see the sea at night; there was a great view from where we were staying.
The next day, we woke up early to get ready for a day of work. The rain delayed our departure, but we were soon out exploring the Jurassic Coast, completing field sketches at Lulworth Cove and writing about how different landforms had been created. We walked up to see Man-o-War Cove and Durdle Door, before walking back to the village to go to the shops. Climbing back on the bus, we set off for Swanage town centre to collect our human geography data. We completed a land use survey and a bipolar survey, just like in Castleton, to see if Swanage was a town for tourists or for residents. We then went back to the Swanage Centre for evening lessons. After lessons, some of us all went swimming, some played football, some made ‘acquaintances’ with the international students and learnt to speak a few words Italian. We then went to bed to get ready for another day of fieldwork.
The weather changed the next day and we had a lovely day for our 6 mile walk from Shell Bay back to the Swanage Centre. We drew field sketches and took notes on the different types of landforms we saw. We walked to Old Harry, where Mr Douglas talked to us about how it was formed and we ate our lunches before walking on to Swanage Bay. Arriving at Swanage beach, we split up into groups, where we measured the north and the south side of the groynes to see if longshore drift had taken place. We also completed an experiment with a tennis ball to see longshore drift in action. After we had finished our course work, we had a stone skimming competition. The other half of the group visited Lulworth Cove today, and as it was a warmer day, was able to paddle in the sea. We then had some free time to go around Swanage to visit the shops or go to the beach, before we went back up to the Swanage Centre for evening lessons. Then we started packing and enjoying our last night in Swanage.
We were up early the next day to travel back to school; it was of course a glorious sunny day! There was lots of singing on the coaches on the way home, which Mrs Nixon approved of. Although we didn’t find any dinosaurs on the Jurassic Coast, we did have a great time with our Geography Teacher, Mr Douglas. Thanks to all the staff who organised and came with us on the trip, including the new Geography Teacher, Miss Halpin. We hope she enjoyed her first fieldtrip with Crompton House and that she looks forward to many more. We enjoyed seeing the beautiful scenery and learning a little more about how it was formed, and we had a fabulous time at the Swanage Centre. Now for the write-up and analysis in school.
