The Geography Department took 26 Year 10 and 11s to the Lake District this weekend. Leaving Aspire early Saturday morning, the aim of the trip was to immerse our students in a natural environment and where better to experience the great outdoors than the Lake District?!

On the first day the group visited Coniston and walked through the historical Coppermines area to Leverswater, a 4-5 mile walk around. Most of our students had never seen the Lake District, wore walking boots, seen a wild sheep or experienced an actual footpath, so it was a superb achievement. Many admitted it was worth their moans and now the prospect of walking up to C floor in the Aspire building was no longer a challenge. They even saw Blackpool through Binoculars on the walk and were amazed. The fresh air helped a quiet night in their dorms too!

The second day was based on team challenges and conservation tasks. The group set humane mammal traps the previous evening and managed to catch seven woodmice and two voles. We also took part in willow coppicing and wreath making much to Ms Stevenson's, Mr Clarke's and Ms Plancke's delight. The challenging obstacle course was a muddy success, so too the fire lighting!

Mr Tock said, "It was very refreshing to take the students into a new environment and we were very impressed and proud of them. They were a credit to the school."