On Friday 6 October, Lower VI Geography students set off to Slapton, a village in Devon, for a three day “girly weekend”! The trip would allow the IB students to collect data for their IA, and A Level students to develop vital skills and be inspired for writing up their NEAs in U6.

After an enjoyable, yet tiring, 3.5 hour minibus drive, we arrived at Slapton Lee Field Study Centre, where we were greeted by our fantastic tutor Em. After a quick tour of the centre, and a much needed toilet break, we began our activities. 

On the first day, we walked around the quaint village of Slapton and learnt all about its history and gained a better understanding of the surrounding rural area, whilst carrying out different fieldwork methods. We then spent some lesson time discussing our findings and had an introduction to ‘the enquiry process’, which taught us about the structure of carrying out a geographical investigation.

We spend the second day at the beach, visiting a few different sites, in order to collect data for the IB students. We measured the cross-sectional area of the beach profile and collected some rocks to investigate how sediment varied along the coast. Sitting on the beach, eating delicious local ice cream was definitely a highlight of the trip, and thanks to the gorgeous weather we all came back with glowing tans!

On the final day, we visited the small, but very beautiful, town of Totnes where we carried out some human fieldwork to give us a better understanding of the town and why it is considered to be a “Transition town”. Amazingly, we lucked out with the weather again and managed to soak up a few more minutes the sun with some tasty local pasties, which was the perfect end to the amazing weekend.  We said our thank yous and goodbyes to Em and the fantastic staff at the fieldwork centre, hopped onto the minibus, set up the Spotify playlist, and drove the 3.5 hrs back to school.