The Year 10 Geographers had the fantastic opportunity to travel to Hengistbury Head near Bournemouth as part of their GCSE fieldwork investigation. The trip was spread out over two days with 60 students going on each day. It was an early start with a 07:30 departure, but it was worth it! When we arrived at the coast there were breathtaking views of the coastline.  

The purpose of our trip was to collect data that would help us to answer our key question: ‘To what extent does beach width vary at Hengistbury head?’ We went to three different sites and at each site we were split into groups of 4/5. We measured how wide the beach was as well as the rate of longshore drift.  Although we had practised this in class, doing it in the open was slightly more challenging than expected as the wind kept blowing our tape measure, so we had to come together as a team and try and solve that particular problem. 

To measure the longshore drift, we had to throw oranges into the sea and measure how far they travelled in sixty-seconds. Keeping track of the oranges was tricky, especially when a seagull swopped down and took the orange away!

As we walked from site to site, our teachers pointed out our different types of coastal management techniques and also evidence of coastal processes like erosion and slumping that we had learnt about in the classroom.  This really helped us to see first hand how the theory can be applied to real-life environments and brought the subject to life. 

All in all, it was an exhilarating experience and we are so grateful to everyone who helped to plan and organise the trip.