We very much enjoyed the Geography trip to Bournemouth Beach and Hengistbury Head. In our Geography lessons, we are currently learning about coastlines, waves and how they affect each other so the trip was a great way to connect our learning to the real world. 

In the morning, we visited Bournemouth Beach to practice fieldwork strategies and techniques, such as finding the size of rocks using callipers and measuring wave frequency. We were shown how longshore drift works by a live demonstration using a tangerine. We discovered that the tangerine stayed on the beach if the swash was stronger than the backwash, which it was. Sometimes, the current was strong and so the tangerine disappeared. We also looked at the importance of groynes and how they protect and maintain the beach. However, due longshore drift one side of the groyne was deeper in sand than the other. We also carried assessments out to consider whether the beach and promenade were protected or not from erosion. We found that this prepared us well for the afternoon activities.

In the afternoon, we visited Hengistbury Head beach. Compared to Bournemouth beach, we noted that the beach itself was not flat and consisted mainly of pebbles and rocks and that the sea was much rougher. We got the opportunity to set up our own investigation where we found out how two factors affected each other. Our group found out how pebble size differed as we got further from the sea. Our results indicated that the further away from the water’s edge we went, the larger the pebbles. 

Overall, the Geography trip was definitely a highlight for us all and we would 100% recommend this trip although we wish there had been better weather on the day. It was a great experience for us to understand what we were learning in class and to improve our fieldwork skills. 

Ella and Gabrielle, Lower IV