Our Year 12 Geographers recently completed four days of fieldwork:
“This is an integral part of the A Level course and is intended to provide the opportunity for students to practise a wide range of fieldwork techniques, both human and physical. Students may also use some of the time for their NEA coursework, if they wish. By saying local, we have reduced costs considerably and doubled the amount of time actually doing fieldwork, whilst reducing our impact on the environment.”
(Dr A Barrett, Head of Geography)
Monday: Hunstanton and Docking: in the morning students conducted fieldwork on Hunstanton beach looking at cliff profiles and wave-cut platforms. After lunch they travelled to Docking and completed fieldwork relating their Changing Places unit.
Hunstanton Beach
Tuesday: Norwich: today’s fieldwork focused on two main themes – urban microclimates and retail patterns. Both involved measures and surveys at various locations around the city, including Anglia Square, the Lanes, St Stephen Street and the area around John Lewis. In the afternoon, students were able to spend time at the Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library to help with the literature review for their coursework, or use the time for more survey work.
Wednesday: Holkham and Foxley Woods: Holkham provided an excellent location for fieldwork on the dunes, allowing them to study plan succession and dune profiles. After lunch they travelled to Foxley Woods where they examined the relationship between plant height and density, light levels, soil moisture and infiltration rates.
Holkham Beach
Thursday: Sheringham and Cromer: in the morning half the group completed beach profile work in Sheringham while the other half conducted a town centre survey of Sheringham as a clone town. In the afternoon Cromer provided an alternative location for a further profile of the beach and town survey.
