Day 1 – Friday 28th June
It was an early start for our Year 12 students on Friday. After a bumpy boat journey to the new ferry terminal in Liverpool, we then made our way to sunny Penrith on the Transpennine Express. Our coach driver transferred us to the beautiful Blencathra Field Study Centre in the Lake District.
Our course leader showed us around the accommodation before taking us on a walking introduction of the local area. We were able to take in the incredible views whilst discussing the history and geology of the area.
We then went to the classroom where we had a quick introduction to tourism in the Lakes, the Butler Model and explored our investigation for the weekend.
After a long day of travelling we finished the day with Fish and Chips from the canteen. Our Friday evening free-time involved a film with hot chocolate and table football/table tennis in the games room.
Day 2- Saturday 29th June
A drizzly start to the day meant we jumped on our minibus into Keswick.
The group was sent off with clipboards and iPad in hand to collect primary data from different areas around the town centre. They were studying the impacts of tourism in the area by using pedestrian counts, environmental quality surveys, questionnaires and land-use surveys. The students were able to gain a great insight into life in Keswick and were able to wander around the Keswick outdoor market.
In the afternoon we made our way over to the foot of Catbells.
During our ascent we took measurements and environmental surveys to get an insight into footpath management in the Lakes and the impacts of tourism in the fells.
We had lunch part way up taking in the views of Derwentwater.
The whole group reached the top of Catbells which is a fell of 451m.
Once back down at the mini bus we treated ourselves to a well-deserved ice-lolly – Catbells is officially ticked off the bucket list!
We had an evening classroom session to round up the day and analysis some secondary data before heading to the canteen for pizza.
Students got into the Euros spirit during free-time. Our Saturday evening involved a walk around the centre to see if we could spot any red squirrels, basketball and a highly competitive quiz.
Day 3 – Sunday 30th June
Our morning classroom session was all about interpreting and presenting the data we collected over the weekend.
We used Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to look at different ways to present all our data and explored the positive and negatives of tourism in the Lake District.
We said our goodbyes to the centre and Richard, our course leader, before heading onto the M6 to Heysham on our minibus. We took a quick pit stop at Tebay Services, arguably the UK's most famous service station, before getting onto the Manxman back to the IOM.
We would just like to say a massive thank you and well done to all of the students for representing themselves and the school so well during the weekend. They took part in all activities with such enthusiasm and engaged so well in the classroom. They have all hopefully picked up new geographical skills and knowledge that will help them next year.