Study Tours

sorrento 110

Each year the department offers the opportunity to participate in a residential visit, to study Geography outside the classroom and the experience a different landscape and culture.

Our visit for 2013 is UK based, the Lake District, staying at the Blencathra Field Studies Centre, where we will undertake map reading and orienteering tasks, study tourism and glaciation and undertake a river study. We’ll also be doing lots of walking!

2012 – Sorrento

This was our first visit to Italy and was a huge success. Tour highlights included a visit to Capri and a boat tour of the island Pompeii, an Amalfi coast drive and a visit to an agritourism area with lots of food tasting.

2011 – Iceland

The land of waterfalls, glaciers and volcanoes. Everyday was completely different and a unique experience. We took a flight to the small island of Heimaey to identify the impacts of the volcanic eruption. We then walked to the top of the Skogarfoss waterfall and behind the Seljandafoss fall. We went to the Dyrohoelaey coast, where Antarctica is the next land mass, whale watching and enjoyed walking around the capital city Reykjavik.

Supporting Study Tours

As a department we are aware that the residential and overseas visits are expensive. For these reasons we decided to base ourselves in the UK for 2013. We also expect everyone who participates to contribute to fund raising activities. This helps to keep the costs down and pays for additional excursions to provide an even more memorable visit.

So far our fundraising activities have included;

  • A Fairtrade Cafe – Open to all pupils, serving tea, coffee and hot chocolate.
  • Sponsored Swim
  • Raffle
  • Quiz for parents, with the final round based on GCSE Geography
  • Bag Packing at our local Morrisons

It’s not only pupils who value the study tours. In 2011, Mrs Biddulph was asked by the Geographical Association to lead a study tour for teachers and Geography educators to Tanzania. So during the summer holidays she showed 20 geography teachers to different areas of Tanzania including Zanzibar and Kilimanjaro region where we have an established school link. The purpose of the visit was to help teachers improve their subject knowledge of Africa and development issues. See our school link for more information.