By Mrs Swan (Head of Geography)
From Wednesday 18th to Friday 20th June, our Year 10 GCSE Geography students headed to the North Norfolk coast for their AQA compulsory fieldwork residential. Based in the charming seaside town of Sheringham – known for its cliffs, promenade, and sea defences, the trip offered the perfect setting to put classroom theory into practice.
Over the course of two days, students conducted both human and physical geography investigations. The human fieldwork was tackled first, with students exploring whether environmental quality decreases with distance from the seafront. Armed with clipboards and careful observations, they carried out environmental quality assessments, traffic counts, and land use surveys across different parts of the town. Their behaviour and focus were excellent throughout, with thoughtful discussions and some sharp data collection.
Due to uncooperative tides (low tide not arriving until 6pm!), physical geography had to wait until later in the second day. The students adapted brilliantly to the change of plan, showing real flexibility and perseverance as they conducted their beach profiles, orange tests for longshore drift, and measured visible groyne height as the tide finally receded. Their key question: Do hard engineering schemes impact longshore drift at Sheringham? will now be explored further in class.
A definite highlight was our stunning sunset walk on the second evening, a well-earned chance to relax, reflect, and enjoy the natural beauty around us. The final day took us to Wells-next-the-Sea, where we walked to Holkham to study the sand dune system, a great way to observe succession and discuss coastal management in a living landscape. To top it all off, we even spotted a group of seals basking in the sun at Wells!
Back in the classroom, students will now work on presenting, analysing, and evaluating their data, ready for Paper 3 of the GCSE. This trip wasn’t just about ticking a box for the exam, it was about making geography come alive. Our students approached every part of the residential with curiosity, energy, and real team spirit, a fantastic few days all round.
View the scenic photos here.
