Year 12 Biology Field Trip

On 19th July Miss Crewe, Mrs Caswell, Miss Rickard and Mrs Bhangal (Bains) took our Year 12 students to Slapton Leys Field Course centre in Devon. The aim of the visit was to support their A-level work that the students had done on ecology at school and to give them a hands on experience of conducting biological experiments in a different environment, and in unfamiliar contexts.

We left KNGS early on Wednesday morning and by 1pm we were on Slapton beach studying succession on the coast. All of the activities counted towards the girls getting a practical endorsement for their A Level Biology. On Thursday we visited East Prawle where we studied the distribution of organisms on the rocky shore line, we saw all manner of organisms living there and could see at first-hand how the different organisms were adapted to survive in different conditions. The data we collected and our observations contributed to larger experiments that the field course centre are conducting by monitoring any invasive species. Friday morning was spent studying the invertebrate life in rivers. All of the data we collected throughout the three days was subjected to statistical tests to allow the girls to increase their data-handling skills and draw conclusions based on their own observations and their own data. The trip was excellent fun, beneficial and enjoyable. The girls who attended would have liked to have stayed longer and completed more field work, whilst there their confidence in speaking about Biology and their work improved, girls who had been quiet were gaining confidence and it allowed them to think of what life will be like when they attend university.

The Biology field trip will be open to the students studying A Level Biology in the first instance but is suitable for students studying any subject to which they need to apply statistical testing. We have begun the planning for our return visit to Slapton Ley in summer 2018 and are looking forward to taking the next cohort already.