Year 12 Geography field trip to Margam

Year 12 students talk about their trip to Margam for A Level Geography

As an A level Geography class, we went on a field trip to Margam Discovery Centre in South Wales

The objective of the trip was to learn key investigational skills ahead of our independent investigation coursework we shall be commencing in the coming months.

Initially, we found ourselves skipping through the lovely emerald green fields of Margam, looking for a picturesque vantage point that would give us a beautiful setting for the perfect field sketch.

Having completed our field sketches, we moved further into the realms of Margam, immersing ourselves in the densely forested sector of the park. We split into small groups and bonded over the carbon content of the trees, learning key skills for our independent investigation coursework over the coming months. After ending the day with an intriguing data evaluation session in the classroom, we got some hard-earned shut eye ahead of a long day along the coast on Thursday.

Early on Thursday morning we headed towards the coast. Our first destination was Southerndown, a lovely pebbled location, where we drew more field sketches, to give us a comparison for the sketches collected on the previous day. We divided ourselves into smaller groups and embarked across the beach to find a section to analyse. Our analysis included measuring the size of pebbles as we progressed up the beach towards its top, as well as progressively calculating the angle of the beach along the transect chosen.

Once we had collected some reliable and valid data we travelled further down the lovely coast towards Porthcawl.

After a long morning on the Southerndown beach and a quick lunch we reconvened further along the coast on the Porthcawl beach for a long beach stroll, collecting data as we strode.

As we walked, we observed human factors like business closures, homes, vacancies and footfall. Tallying in tandem with our stride, the team began to flag towards the end as we approached the final site. Having rallied the troops our guide, Heather, guided us across the dunes of Porthcawl, leading us to the finish line.

Finally, after another good night’s rest, we moved into our final day in search of some drainage data. With time against us, we managed to collect data on various levels of water drainage across several ground types in just a couple of hours. As we headed home with morale low after a great few days, Mrs Spurway cheered us up with the news that we would be incorporating a Maccies (aka McDonalds!) stop on the journey home.

On behalf of the group, I would like to say thank you to Mrs Spurway, Mr Hanks and, of course, Heather for making the trip so enjoyable and informative ahead of our independent investigation.

Visit the Gallery for more pictures from the Margam field trip.