Subject Department Trips
Sandford Park School actively promotes field trips and outside visits in all subject departments. This corresponds to the Department of Education and Science best practice.
It is compulsory for Leaving Certificate students of Geography and Biology to undertake field work as part of their course work. The school’s geography students carry out field work in the physical section of the course. This is normally a full day’s schedule. Field work is written up as a report which must be submitted as part of the final geography examination. Leaving Certificate biologists similarly have to carry out field work. Currently Sandford Park students study the grassland in Airfield, Dundrum.
Junior Science students are involved in comprehensive field trips with the teachers of the Science department. This includes trips to the rocky sea shore in Sutton and a woodland in St Anne’s Park. Science students also attend the annual BT Young Scientist Exhibition, as both competitors and interested students. Where possible, students also attend lectures in science organised by outside parties such as universities. Every two years, a trip to CERN in Geneva is available to senior Chemistry and Physics students.
Students of Art and History are also well catered for, with frequent visits to various galleries and sites of architectural and historical interest.
Students of English and Drama have the opportunity to attend plays in some of the city’s well-known theatres.
Fieldwork trips are viewed as an integral part of many subjects within the school. They are not seen as an add-on but as an essential.