Sixty-six Year 11 GCSE geographers enjoyed the chance to get their hands dirty on a field trip to Epping Forest.
During the Physical Geography trip, the boys were tasked with investigating the question How do river characteristics change with distance downstream along Loughton Brook?
The exercise involved going to three sites and measuring the brook’s width, depth, velocity, sediment size and sediment roundness at each.
Head of Geography Emily Parry said: “This was a successful trip and we were very lucky to have dry weather.
“It fulfilled the second element of the AQA examination board’s GCSE requirement that fieldwork is carried out to explore both Human and Physical Geography: the Human Geography field trip was a visit in June to the Olympic Park in Stratford.”
The field trip was spread over two days, with half of the cohort going each day, accompanied by four teachers.
The fieldwork was led by tutors from the Field Studies Council’s Epping Forest base. It is situated in the heart of the forest, an area of 2,400 hectares stretching from Manor Park in East London to just north of Epping in Essex.
Two-thirds of the forest has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
The purpose-built centre there has six classrooms and is only a few minutes from the M25 and Loughton Tube Station.