The GSCE and A Level pupils witnessed first hand many of the features they had previously only read about. This included hot springs, waterfalls and glaciers as well as visiting Reykjavík, Iceland's capital city.

As part of their studies, the group went on several guided field trips to see how the current landscape has been moulded by geographical features such as glaciers and waterfalls and how these features affect settlement patterns.

This included visits to the Geysir hot springs, the waterfalls at Gullfoss, Seljalandsfoss and Skógafoss, the Stóra Dímon volcanic outcrop and Sólheimajökull, the 'black glacier'.

They also had chance to see the Vík settlement on the south coast and take in Dyrhólaey, a prime example of erosional coastline.

One of the highlights of the trip was the chance to swim in the world famous blue lagoon, one of southern Iceland's geothermal springs.

Philip McParland, head of geography, said: "Fieldwork is an integral part of geography as it helps to bring the work completed in the classroom alive. This was the first international trip for many of these GCSE and A-Level geographers.

"They experienced fieldwork first hand and saw many geographical features that they had not encountered before."

During the week, the pupils used the town of Hveragerði as a base.
Known as the 'greenhouse town', they saw how the energy from its steaming geothermal field is being harnessed to grow vegetables.

With green issues becoming increasingly important, they also visited examples of global conservation schemes and national environmental projects with trips to the Hellisheiði Geothermal Power Plant, the Þingvellir Rift Valley National Park World Heritage Site and the Sólheimar Sustainable Village.