On the 20th February, the AS Geography students, accompanied by Miss Lee, Miss Walker and Miss Cook, set off (after a small minibus meltdown!) on the annual geography field trip to the Margam Discovery Centre near Port Talbot in Wales for a few days of 'geography fun'!
On the Sunday, once arriving in Wales, we visited Oxwich Bay. Here, we looked around many coastal features consistent with a bay of this size. We then ventured into the large sand dunes behind the beach, before exploring the various habitats and layout of the dunes. Afterwards we headed to the centre. It is a magnificent building, with many eco-friendly features, including the resident deer Stephen and James! The evening was spent preparing ourselves for the fieldwork to be conducted in the morning.
Monday was our rivers day, a day full of both geography and carnage. We set off early, our aim to measure different changes (for example river depth and velocity) downstream of the River Ogmore. Starting off at the source of the river, surrounded by sheep, we used a variety of equipment to measure certain factors in the river's channel, slowly moving downstream throughout the day. Of course, there were a few slips and falls - we learnt the waterproofs did not provide quite enough protection and discovered the river bed can be quite slippy! As we were arriving at the middle course, both minibuses managed to get stuck in the mud which required a bit of a push and a shove from the boys; the girls stayed in the dry, warm buses! We reached the river mouth and, to finish the day, saw the largest sand dunes in Europe.
On Tuesday, after spending the morning writing up the previous day's results, we headed to Three Cliffs Bay. We spent the day exploring some more coastal features (and the rock pools - much to the delight of Yasmin and Kate) and ran down the steep sand dune, in which doing so Aiden managed to face plant the ground.
The trip was extremely useful for us geography students in terms of being able to apply what we learn in the class room to real life features, and for the opportunity to carry out our fieldwork study, which is an integral part of the course. It was lovely to spend the time with some great people and equally passionate staff.
- Joey & Abi, Year 12