Ford Castle: Field Trip & School Excursions

Key Stage 3 Field Study Activities

• Geography - Stream and river measurements, erosion, deposition, kick sampling
• Adaptations in various habitats, rock pooling, fossil hunts, SSSI visits, Farne Islands trip
• History - Fortifications, battles, Victorians, Tudors, early man, and archaeological sites
• Farm/ bird of prey centre visit, traffic census, mapping, surveys

Key Stage 4 Options

• History/Archaeology - from mesolithic to present day - with visits to local sites, old maps, artefacts
• Geography/Geology - profiles of rivers, sand dunes. Sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rocks, ice age deposits, folding, faulting and carboniferous fossils
• Biology/Ecology - data analysis, transects, quadrats, ecosystems, food webs, environmental measurement, flora and fauna
• MFL - French, Spanish, German spoken.
• On site facilities: lab work, ICT, drying oven, soil analysis, digital projector and OHP for presentations

Current Geography A and AS level work

• Hydrology - Harthope, Bowmont, College and Ingram valleys
• Sphere of influence - Berwick and border towns. Tourism, urbanisation, development, green belt
• Sand dunes - profile, succession, psammomere hypothesis, soil ph, water content, wind speed
• Farm centre visit - crop rotation, fertiliser and water pollution, SSSI, EU regulations
• Coastal geomorphology
• Individual project work, statistical data collection

Biology/Ecology A and AS courses

• Rivers - biotic index, biodiversity and profiles
• Sand dunes - profiles, succession, plant ID, % age cover. Snail populations - Lincoln Index
• Ford Moss (SSSI) - succession, bog, wood and moorland habitats
• Seashore - sheltered/exposed comparisons, zonation. Statistics on limpets, seaweeds
• Moorland biodiversity Farm visit/lecture
• Field measurements - transects, quadrats and statistical analysis of data. Biotic/abiotic factors