Hiking at Braeburn School
27th January 2024
Hiking at Braeburn School
I am so happy to see that hiking and a love of the outdoors is growing in popularity at Braeburn. It is something I fell in love with in secondary school and I hope it is a passion that stays with our students for life. The benefits for both physical and mental health are boundless.
As a Geographer, it also gives me great pleasure to 'bore' them with explanations of the landscape features we see along the way. This time it was the turn of Mt Longonot; a dormant volcano in the Rift Valley. As our penultimate hike, it was key preparation for those climbing Mt Kenya at the end of this half term. After a very wet bus journey with, in places, visibility of less than 50m, the skies cleared up and walking conditions were nice and cool. A steep trek of 3.1km up to the crater rim, 7.2km to circumnavigate the crater and then 3.1km down make it a relatively long and challenging day. Team work, camaraderie and a significant amount of sugar kept us all going. From the crater we watched as the cloud descended onto the Aberdares and listened to the thunder rumbling in the distance, but we were very lucky with the rain starting as we got back into the bus.
Geography Trip
Friday 19th January it was the Year 10 Geography classes turn to experience the volcano. We have been learning about the types and features of volcanoes as well as the reasons that people live in these hazardous environments. Not many schools in the world get to experience these things first hand so we are lucky to have Mt Longonot on our doorstep. We were able to identify that it is a stratovolcano by describing its shape and features such as the lava flows, layers of ash deposits, steep crater and secondary cone. We discussed the role of water in shaping the volcano to have numerous gullies and a deep canyon eroded by rainwater. Once we had reached the crater rim, the extensive views allowed us to talk about the different land uses in the area; flower and vegetable farming, tourism, geothermal energy, and understand the benefits a volcanic area can bring to local residents and businesses.
All the staff were incredibly proud of the perseverance and resilience shown by the students who all managed to make it up to the crater rim. Geography was learned and character was built!
Maddy Jackson
Deputy Headteacher Pastoral/Geography Teacher
