Leighton Park’s Year 11 Geography students took their studies out of the classroom and into the field on 2nd October, spending several days at the Margam Park Discovery Centre near Port Talbot in South Wales. Chosen for its superb location, top-class facilities, and outstanding reputation for geography fieldwork, the centre provided the perfect setting for students to deepen their understanding of both river and urban environments.
During the river fieldwork day, students carried out group investigations along the Ogmore River, measuring changes in the river channel and testing water quality at different points along its course. The urban fieldwork day took them to Cardiff, where they mapped land use changes along a transect through the city and conducted environmental quality and bipolar surveys to explore whether Cardiff’s development fits the Hoyt or Burgess urban models.
In the evenings and on Saturday, students processed their data and reflected on their findings, an experience that will directly support their understanding of the fieldwork investigation process, worth 23% of their final examination.
Abby and Julia commented: “I think the field trip was really good, it gave us opportunities to develop our field and a better in-depth explanation of rivers band to see them in person” and “The lessons after helped us better understand what would happen in the exam and how we would use what we learnt on the trip.”
George’s favourite part of the trip was “walking down the rivers to see all the cool processes and landscapes” and Geography Teacher, Ellie Smales, praised the year group on their fantastic engagement “ The Year 11’s were absolutely fantastic on the field trip expedition”.
See the weekend’s photos here.
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