Research in Brighton
Fieldwork is essential in the study of Geography and here the Geography Department reports on a recent fieldtrip undertaken by the Geography GCSE students of Upper V:
‘On Monday 26th September 2016 Mr Chappory, Head of Geography, Miss Hewitt and Miss Keep accompanied the geographers of Upper V to Brighton to collect research for their Controlled Assessment: ‘Investigate how a stretch of coastline is managed’.
The day began bright and early at 9.00am at St Pancras station. With a minor delay we were on our way to the sunny seaside. We spent the day at three sites – Brighton Beach, Rottingdean and Ovingdean. In the morning we explored Brighton Beach, conducting several qualitative and quantitative data techniques including bi-polar surveys, beach profiling, annotations of photographs, measurements of stone size to monitor erosion, measuring the direction of longshore drift, vehicle counts, retail outlet classification – and the list goes on!
At lunch time the girls were lucky enough to enjoy a meal of fish and chips on Brighton Pier – taking in the healthy salty air! After a quick break we marched on to repeat the same fieldwork techniques at Ovingdean and Rottingdean. Here we saw several geographical features including groynes, curved sea walls, and even a wave cut platform! The girls worked well in groups, dividing data collection between them in order to make the most of the day. At 5.00pm we boarded the train back to dreary London and waved goodbye to the seaside.
This fieldtrip was compulsory for all Geography students and emphasised to them the importance of fieldwork within our subject. Not only that, it was clear that the students were very engaged and, if anything, very excited that they were finally seeing the landforms and processes we have learnt about in class over the last 6 months – right in front of them. The students were making great links between the natural features of the coastline and the level of human management on the coastline.
We now have everything we need to start our Controlled Assessment!’
