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

















