GCSE Geography students enjoyed a day away from the classroom to explore Coal Drops Yard at King’s Cross, and Bermerton Estate, London as part of their Fieldwork for Urban Environments. Their goal: to investigate the changes taking place in King’s Cross.

Coal Drops Yard, King’s Cross

Students discovered the history of King’s Cross and how it has regenerated to look the way it does today. Students looked through secondary resources of maps and images from 1746, 1862 and 2018, which illustrated the huge changes the area has gone through.

Students set their own hypothesis and set out to investigate. Different fieldwork techniques were carried out including risk assessments, land use maps, service tally’s, environmental quality surveys and questionnaires. It was clear Coal Drops Yard had a high number of shops, whereas surrounding areas were more residential, offices and restaurants.

Bermerton Estate

Once we had completed the site, it was time for lunch before moving onto Bermerton Estate, a short walk from Coal Drops Yard. Students carried out their fieldwork techniques in this new area, allowing them to quickly see the difference between both sites.

We finished the day with questionnaires, where each group of students managed to achieve speaking to five members of the public, about why they were in the area, what they thought about it, and provided a rating. All in all, it was a great day out!