Lower Sixth at Nettlecombe Court

In early November, the twenty-two Lower Sixth Geographers travelled west to Nettlecombe Court in North Somerset, a tudor stately home now run as an FSC study centre, for their three day residential field course.

The purpose of the trip was to introduce the students to a range of methods they could later use for primary data collection in their NEAs. Led by an FSC instructor, the students worked in groups of three or four to implement a number of established and more innovative data collection techniques.

Saturday was focused on the 'Changing Spaces, Making Places' unit, comparing two contrasting rural settlements in Exmoor: the functional agricultural village of Wheddon Cross and the “chocolate box” medieval tourist attraction of Dunster. Later that evening students used ArcGIS to create digital mood maps presenting their data. Unsurprisingly, even in the autumnal rain, medieval Dunster was more uplifting.

Sunday was a 'Coastal Landscape Systems' day, spent in dry, but chilly Porlock Bay. The students surveyed beach profiles and investigated variations in sediment size, shape, angularity and roundness.

Monday morning was spent evaluating coastal management in Minehead, including the use of the Survey 123 app, which allows a smart phone to be used as a digital clipboard.

The course introduced a lot of innovative and contemporary methods, which the students can apply to their independent investigations next summer.