At the very start of this month, the Higher and Advanced Higher Geography students enjoyed an overnight trip to Dolphin House in Culzean. I am studying Higher Geography this year and so I had the fantastic opportunity to go on this trip. I’m writing this article to tell you about what a great time we all had.

Dolphin House is located in Culzean Country Park, just next to Culzean Castle and around an hour and a half minibus drive away from Clydeview Academy. Including myself, there were 14 pupils on the trip and we were joined by Clydeview’s excellent Geography teachers, Mr McFadzean and Mrs Blackman. The trip saw us taking part in many fun-filled activities as well as learning a bit about the surrounding area, which linked to what we have been learning in our Geography classes.

When we first arrived, we were greeted by the wonderful views of Culzean’s sprawling coastlines and we were very fortunate to have been there on such a bright day. I remember Mrs Blackman showing us a wave-cut platform and the remains of a stack, both of which are features we have been learning about in class. After our visit to the beach, our guide for the day, Andre, let us take part in some archery which was great fun. I spoke to Sophie and she told me a bit about her experience:

“I thought the archery was great because we had an opportunity that you wouldn’t really have without going on the trip as we got to try out this new activity. My favourite moment was probably when I aimed the arrow correctly and got to hit and burst the balloon on the target. I think we had a great time all round!”

– Sophie T, S5

Our other activities while at Culzean included hill walking and gorge walking. Our experience while hill walking was very peaceful (despite the surprisingly strong winds!) and once our tired legs reached the peak of our hill, we admired the amazing landscape around us. Mr McFadzean also took the time to teach us about the soils we walked across and showed us examples of what we had recently been taught in class. The gorge walk, on the other hand, was far more challenging as we had to climb through narrow passageways, over large rocks and through water which was as high as our chests. I met with Lorna afterwards and she told me about what she thought of our activities:

“I thought the trip was very good and very exciting overall. The gorge walking was very interesting as it showed us the landscape that a glacier would have created. It was a bit of an adventure, having to climb through the rocks and walk through the water. The hill walking had wonderful views! It was also very interesting seeing different layers of soils and the soil horizons. Getting to see what that was actually like instead of just a picture in a textbook was great.”

– Lorna R, S5

We also had a good time in the evening while at Dolphin House as when the sun was setting, we went rock-pooling. The tide had gone out and had left hundreds of miniature ponds filled with tiny sea creatures, which I don’t think expected to see us staring down at them. We then returned to the beach and enjoyed toasting marshmallows around a campfire made by Mr McFadzean and Mrs Blackman. To end our night, we got head-torches and walked to a nearby park to play a game of hide and seek in the pitch black of the night – I definitely didn’t expect that from my Geography trip! I chatted to Finlay and Lara who told me more about why they enjoyed this so much:

“I thought the rock pooling was really good as we got outside in a wave-cut platform scenery so we could see the eco-system and the animals that you find in that habitat. Amongst my finds were hermit crabs, a butterfish and a worm pipefish. The campfire was a really nice way to relax in the evening and to get to chill out. We talked to everyone there and had marshmallows and a good time together.”

– Finlay A, S5

 

“I thought it was very eye-opening meeting new people that I’d never spoken to before. Especially at hide and seek, I felt like that was a bonding moment for us all and quite unexpected how we all got together and clicked. Doing it in the dark with head-torches was definitely a different experience, I’ve never done that before!”

– Lara C, S5

It’s clear that everyone really enjoyed their trip to Dolphin House and it’s certainly helped us with our studies in Geography, which I’m sure Mrs Blackman and Mr McFadzean will be very pleased about!

Article by Jack Ramsay, Head Boy