Beach provides fertile ground for research
On Wednesday 2nd October 2019, a group of sixth formers studying Environmental Systems and Societies and Biology went on a field trip to West Wittering National Trust.
This beautiful Blue Flag beach overlooks Chichester Harbour and the Isle of Wight and is widely considered to be one of the most stunning, unspoilt beaches on the south coast.
The day was sandwiched between two extreme weather systems and so luckily the girls experienced an amazingly calm, sunny and bright day.
The group investigated two drastically different ecosystems- sand dunes and salt marshes. They were amazed at the amount of biodiversity in this area of outstanding natural beauty. They learnt different sampling techniques that can be applied to many areas of their subjects.
The spit area is renowned for its dramatically changing landscape due to the effects of the weather and sea erosion. The impact of so many holiday makers and sixth formers visiting this area make it especially difficult to manage!
Mrs Jo Quirk, Head of Biology at Headington School said: “Not only did this trip allow the girls to further extend their scientific understanding but it also allowed the girls to bond with others from the Sixth Form.”
