Year 4’s Changing Coasts

Year 4 headed to Perranporth beach to have a closer look at the extraordinary ways in which the wind, waves and tides shape our changing coastlines.

Perranporth is home to the tallest dunes in Britain. The towering Penhale Dunes (directly adjoining the northern stretch of Perranporth Beach) rise to an impressive 90 metres. Perranporth itself is packed with unique coastal features, such as stacks and stumps, arches and caves, dunes, even cliffs and headlands, like Droskyn Point.

This field trip provided the children with unmissable opportunities to see how erosion and weathering create these different landforms. A highlight of the trip was the opportunity to model the different landforms for themselves in the sand, and our Year 4 geographers were absolutely unstoppable. They worked in small groups to construct headlands, before scooping out caves and breaking through to form an arch. Eventually, the roof of their arch became too heavy and collapsed, leaving an isolated column called a stack.

It was only the whisper of ice lollies (back at school) that convinced them to reluctantly stop their masterpieces.

A huge thank you to Mrs Luxton and to all of the staff who made this hands-on learning experience possible.