The Geography Department have been out on another fieldtrip, this time with Year 10 to the River Chess for data collection in preparation for their GCSE Geography coursework.

The River Chess is a relatively short river, only 18km from its source in Chesham to the confluence with the River Colne in Rickmansworth. It is ideal for a GCSE fieldtrip however because it means that we can visit sites along the whole course of a river within one day. It is also shallow and safe so the data collection is relatively easy. The aim for the fieldwork was to measure different characteristics of the river at three different sites along the course to see how the river changed as we moved downstream. There are also lots of examples of human management of the river, which allows students to delve into more complex human and physical relationships.

As usual the Year 10 Geographers worked brilliantly. They worked in teams to measure the width, depth, velocity, bed load size and gradient of the river with some newly purchased equipment. They collected some extremely accurate results, which has set them up really well for the production of their coursework, worth 25% of their final GCSE grade.

Special thanks must go to Miss. Bridges, who became an honorary member of the Geography team for the fieldtrip, and I am sure that the ICT team will eventually forgive her for dropping the school camera in the water!

Mr Barret
Subject Leader for Geography