Come and join me on the RGS Education Committee

Nominations are now invited from Fellows for Committee positions to be elected in June 2026.

Please note, there are no Council positions up for election in 2026, but the positions on committees are as follows:

• Research and Higher Education Committee - Chair of the Annual Conference 2027 (to serve on the committee June 2026-June 2028, a two-year term).
• Research and Higher Education Committee - Member (to serve on the committee June 2026-June 2029, a three-year term).
• Education Committee - Member (to serve on the committee June 2026-June 2030, a four-year term).
• Professional Practice Committee - Member (to serve on the committee June 2026-June 2030, a four-year term).
• Expeditions and Fieldwork Committee - Member (to serve on the committee June 2026-June 2030, a four-year term).

The expertise and interests of Council and committee members represent the main areas of RGS activity and bring a breadth of experience from the wider world. The positions provide a valuable opportunity to contribute to the Society’s activities and serve as a direct influence on its strategic direction.

Nominations for candidates with the following key skills/expertise areas would be welcomed:

• Research and Higher Education Committee - Chair of the Annual Conference 2027: a senior, leading, internationally-renowned scholar.
• Research and Higher Education Committee - Member: Expertise in research leadership and impact in geography with in-depth knowledge of the Society’s research groups and their ethos.
• Education Committee - Member: Practical expertise, skills and knowledge as an established geography teacher and head of department at secondary level in either the maintained or private sector.
• Professional Practice Committee - Member: Active interest in higher-level skills training for those in the professional practice, including, but not limited to, professional development courses, apprenticeships and micro-credentials.
• Expeditions and Fieldwork Committee – Member: Expertise in purposeful travel and exploration, strategic approaches to community growth and knowledge mobilisation through creative or civic channels.

We are looking for a range of experience, genders, ethnicities, and ages to apply for these roles. 

If you are wondering whether any of the positions are right for you, or you have any queries, please contact the Director's Office.

I'm also happy to respond to any queries from people who are thinking of putting themselves forwards for the Education Committee role.

You'll be working with a fine bunch of geographers.

The deadline is 5.00pm on Thursday 19 March 2026 and all nominations should be sent to the Director, preferably via email: director@rgs.org

Full guidance and information on the nomination process

Young Geographer of the Year 2025

It's that time of year again for the launch of the Young Geographer of the Year category. 

This annual competition is run by the Royal Geographical Society.

The Young Geographer of the Year is the Society’s annual competition which recognises the outstanding work of the next generation of geographers. With its age ranges spanning the primary years to A Level, the competition encourages thoughtful and creative answers to the competition’s theme which is set each year.

The Society encourages schools to run their own in-house competition and then send their top 10 entries into the international competition. The Young Geographer competition has been running for over 20 years and every year thousands of children across the world take part.
2025 competition

The theme for the Young Geographer of the Year competition 2025 is:

Understanding islands

Let’s take a closer look at the World’s islands.

It is estimated that our planet contains almost 670,000 islands, of which around 11,000 are permanently inhabited. Islands have a unique geography; their landscapes and coastlines vary massively – some are home to volcanoes; others are barely above sea level. Some are barren, deserts or rocky outcrops, others lush vegetation havens for a range of unique wildlife and plant species. There are islands seen by many as popular holiday destinations, and there are others that are inaccessible or many miles from civilisation. Every island is unique, and every island has its challenges.

The geography of islands is an interesting one. 

Some are threatened by climate change and issues such as sea level rise, and through this are embroiled in the geopolitics of the climate emergency and the mitigation strategies implemented through both international policies and local-level action. The people who live on islands face a range of socio-economic, cultural or historical challenges, from over-use of their towns and cities by tourists, to access to resources, clean water or adequate living conditions. The ‘ownership’ of some islands is contested; some are protected, others are fought over because of their geopolitical or strategic significance. In some places, islands are being created to meet the need for more space to satisfy our growing population. By exploring and understanding islands, including the island we live on, we can unlock a multitude of geographical themes and connections across people, places and environments.

The Society invites you to create a poster (Esri StoryMap or poster for KS5 entrants) to explore islands and highlight the geographical themes, challenges and solutions that connect across both human and physical geography to make islands unique. We are looking for eye catching, creative and informative posters and StoryMaps that delve into the socio-economic, cultural, political and physical aspects of a range of islands, showcasing their features and exploring how islands can be connected through the challenges that they face and the solutions they use to address those challenges. 

Your posters and StoryMaps should think about geographical themes across people, places and environments.

RGS Education Committee - why not join me?

There is availability to join me on the Royal Geographical Society's Education Committee, which I joined in June as Vice President Education.

We have an important job to do - particularly at the moment with a focus on the Government's Curriculum and Assessment review.

The process is explained on the link below if you'd like to put yourself forward.

You will need to fill in a few forms online and get them to the Director's office by the 20th of March 2025. Selected names will then be added to a ballot paper which will go out to all those eligible to vote. The results will be announced at the RGS's AGM in early June 2025. I shall be there. 

You will fill the role for a four year term.

Only Fellows of the Society may stand for positions on Council and only Fellows may propose candidates for election (this includes Associate Fellows).

If you wish to stand for election to Council, you should be able to demonstrate:

• a good working knowledge of the Society
• an understanding and support for its breadth of activities and audiences
• experience and seniority relevant to the position that you are standing for

Each position also requires a sound working knowledge, as appropriate, of geographical education, expeditions and fieldwork, research and higher education, geography in professional practice. In addition, Council has provided guidance to nominees and proposers on the skills, expertise and experience that it feels would be most helpful at the present time. It is not a requirement that nominees fill identified skills gaps but it is highly desirable.

For Education this is described as:

Practical expertise, skills and knowledge as an established geography teacher (with five or more years of classroom experience), head of geography or senior leader at secondary level (Councillor).   

In terms of time commitment, Council members must be available to read papers for, and attend, four Council meetings per year and at least two Committee meetings per year.

Go to this page for all the details.

Feel free to get in touch if you would like to know more details about what is involved in this role, and good luck if you are thinking of applying.

Curriculum and Assessment Review - call for evidence by the RGS

 

An RGS-heavy day today alongside my teaching.

This post is a cross-posting from my dedicated RGS blog - please go and check it out if you haven't already. It shares all the news linked to my role as Vice President: Education. This curriculum review will be one of the things I'm interested in for the next year or so.

Joined a very interesting Zoom call followed by some emails related to the opening of the RGS' request for your thoughts as part of the 'call for evidence' of the Francis Curriculum Review. That request is now open as of lunchtime today.

New on the RGS website is this call for your thoughts ahead of the Curriculum and Assessment Review for England, which is being chaired by Becky Francis.

At the moment, the review is in a phase where they call for evidence.

This evidence will inform later stages of the consultation.

The Government has launched an open call for evidence to inform its curriculum and assessment reviewfor England, which is being chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE.

The review spans key stages 1 to 4, and 16 to 19 education, and will look closely at the challenges to attainment for young people, and the barriers which many children face – in particular those who are socio-economically disadvantaged, or with special educational needs or disability (SEND).

The review is wide ranging and is seeking evidence from young people and parents, teachers and lecturers, leaders, experts and employers on how the curriculum and assessment system can ensure all young people are prepared for life and work.The Society will be responding to the call for evidence and we want to hear your views to help us formulate our response. 

In particular:

• We know that many in education feel the geography curriculum at GCSE is overloaded. Do you agree? If so, how can the load be reduced while keeping a coherent curriculum? What should assessment look like?
• We often hear from young people that the geography curriculum is not relevant to them and the world they now live in. What changes could be made to improve this?
• We believe fieldwork is an essential element of geography in schools. How can high quality fieldwork provision for all students be assured? How should it be assessed?
• We believe that geography is the central home for learning about climate change and action. Do you agree? How would you describe the value a geographical perspective brings to understanding and responding to climate change?
• We recognise that spatial data skills are vital for employability, especially within the growing green careers sectors. How should these be embedded across the different key stages? How should teachers be supported to deliver this element of the curriculum?

We are keen to collect the views of everyone, but those working in geography education in some ways are likely to be more affected by the outcomes of this review, as it filters through into official curriculum documents which more schools will be legally obliged to follow.

Please submit by the 4th of November.

GCSE results and Climate Change education

Earlier today an RGS-IBG press release went out which I contributed to in my new role as Vice President: Education.

Today's press-release also mentioned the importance of the forthcoming Curriculum and Assessment Review to respond to concerns around climate change teaching from SOS.

Some awarding bodies have already updated specifications, which will eventually move through into textbooks (which have long lead times) and the curriculum review needs to work quickly so that all students are introduced to robust and knowledge-rich teaching... and avoid opinions which are out of step with the reality....

I know of at least one textbook that will do this, as I'm helping to write it...

Share your fieldwork ideas and resources

A cross-posting from my relatively new blog: 'At the Home of Geography'. 

This is a blog to share work around my work as Vice President:Education of the Royal Geographical Society.

The GA's Fieldwork Festival during June has ended, but fieldwork can carry on at any time of course, and we hope that your summer travels may well involve some 'fieldtrips' AKA family holidays, or personal travels. These may be in the local area or further afield.

Check out the detailed page on the RGS website which contains a wealth of resources for those planning fieldwork.

One issue for teachers when consultations take place is to have ideas for fieldwork which are low cost (ideally free) and can be carried out in the local area. In terms of having ideas for fieldwork. The sharing of ideas in this area are particularly helpful.

The RGS has added a useful form to their website.

The form can be used to tell us about the fieldwork that you are undertaking, and help share examples of free resources.

Have you got fieldwork resources that other teachers might find useful?

These might be resources for fieldwork in a specific location or for fieldwork activities that could be carried out anywhere.

Select the fieldwork location and upload any accompanying materials to share.

• Esri and RGS will not check or verify information added here. Teachers and schools using this 'crowdsourced' information are responsible for checking accuracy and considering all aspects of health and safety before using any of the shared ideas and resources to undertake fieldwork. 
• The suggestions shared should only involve access to public land. 
• Teachers must have the right to share the materials they upload and by uploading them, teachers agree to allow others to freely make use of them to develop their own fieldwork. 
• No one may sell information or resources presented here.
• All of the materials shared through this fieldwork ideas and resources portal are published under a CC BY-NC 4.0 licence

Is your fieldwork resource specific to a location?*

Resources relating to specific locations will contain information about the place, this could include basemaps, local data sets etc.

Use anywhere resources focus more on the method and data and could be used in any appropriate location.

RGS / FT School Essay Competition 2024

One for Senior school students.

From the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG)

Details of the School Essay Competition for 2024

The 2024 School Essay Competition, organised in partnership with the Financial Times, invites students to answer the following question:

Drawing on information from your daily life, what sustainability action points would you prioritise?

Include no more than ten key ideas and justify your choices. Use accompanying information from the FT and other sources.
This resource will be useful as a starting point. 

Carbon counting: how much do your lifestyle choices cost the planet? (ft.com)

The judges are looking for: 

A clear essay or  ArcGIS StoryMap which is well-evidenced and reaches a clear conclusion
Submissions that do not exceed 1,000 words (excluding references) - submissions over 1,000 words will not be considered. The word count should be provided in the document.
Referenced sources of information and data
Submissions which are the entrant’s own work and relevant to the question and guidance 

Our 2024 School Essay Competition, organised in partnership with the Financial Times, is calling for entries from geography students aged 16-18 and inviting them to share their ideas in response to the following question:

Head here for all the details  https://www.rgs.org/.../competit.../school-essay-competition

Best of luck!

A new role for me at the RGS-IBG

I've been connected with the RGS-IBG for quite a number of years in various ways, as were quite a few other former GA Presidents. 

I'm now about to strengthen those connections a little more.

In 2007 I became a Fellow of the RGS and Chartered Geographer (Teacher) and have been ever since.

In 2008, I was awarded their Ordnance Survey Award for excellence in Secondary Geography Teaching. This was a proud moment and came at the culmination (I thought) of my teaching career as I was joining the Geographical Association and stepping out of the classroom. I didn't realise I'd be back again within five years.

I had also spoken at the RGS as part of a student day - with Alastair Owens actually - although I only found that out much later when digging through some old papers. It's a wonderful thing to stand on the stage in the Ondaatje Theatre where so many greats have stood before. We also took students there for a range of events, and I took part in an event representing the Guardian / DfE once as well. I ended up having lunch with Nicholas Crane and have bumped into all sorts of explorers and 'celebrity' geographers at times in the lunch area.

Between 2008 and 2011 I worked closely with the RGS - particularly Steve Brace - who is now the GA Chief Executive of course, and Claire Wheeler (now Claire Brown) along with the rest of their APG team as part of the Action Plan for Geography. This meant regular meetings at either the RGS or Solly Street at a time when Michael Palin was president.

From 2011 onwards for several years I contributed resources to the RGS website, thanks to Steve Brace. This included:

- From the Field resources - working with PhD researchers to translate their work into the classroom

- 'A' level / fieldwork materials funded by a Data Skills project

- a resource on Hunstanton's famous stripy cliffs

- the education materials for Felicity Aston's Going Beyond funded trip to the Pole of Cold - these won an award from the SAGT.

If you are a fellow, you will have received your electronic 'ballot paper' for the elections for Council for June 2024 and will perhaps have noticed that I have put myself forward for the post of Vice President: Education. I had to keep this to myself for a while.

This blog post would have been a request to vote for me in an election, but as it turned out I stood unopposed, so will be confirmed in this role at the AGM of the RGS in June, the same day as the RGS's Awards are handed out.

From June I shall therefore be taking on the role of Vice President: Education at the RGS and have a place on RGS Council for a four year term of office.

Thanks to the fine people who proposed me for the position, including a Polar explorer and some very excellent geography teacher colleagues.

Thanks also must go to my predecessor as VP Education: Mel Norman, who has also been closely associated with the Geographical Association. She Chaired and was Co-Chair/Secretary of the GA's Education Group and was also editor of 'Teaching Geography' for a lengthy period. 

She taught PGCE Geographers for many years - I visited her cohorts a few times while working for the GA - and is also closely associated with the organisation of the Charney Manor Primary Geography Conference. I'm hoping she will pass on more of her wisdom, much as she did when I started my GA Presidency. Speaking of which, Mel is one of those people who has not been GA President (yet) but would be fantastic in the role. She has received awards from the GA for her work in a range of spheres.

If you're going to be at the AGM / Awards or reception in the evening it would be fantastic to catch up. 

I shall be back with more requests as I get started on the role in the summer. 

I look forward to working with all the various Council and committee members, RGS staff and the new incoming President Professor Dame Jane Francis, who received the RGS's Patron's Medal in 2022.

There is work to be done to ensure that all the ongoing support that the RGS offers for teachers meets their needs, and continues to be responsive and inclusive to the changing needs of the profession. I'm excited to offer my support in various ways.

Image: Sam Parkinson

"Choose Geography"

KEP students will be ending the year by putting together an entry for this competition as always... 

That is the theme of the 2024 Young Geographer of the Year competition, which is always revealed about the time of the GA Conference, with postcards and other information on the RGS stand.

There has never been a better or more important time to study geography.

Geography helps you to make sense of the world around you. It's hands on, relevant, and fun. Whatever your passion for the world – fascination with landscapes or concerns about sustainability – geography will provide you with knowledge and transferable skills that will reward you personally and advance you professionally.

The Society invites you to create your own #ChooseGeography poster to promote the value of choosing geography at school, in further study and in the workplace, linking geographical skills to real people and jobs that make a difference. We are looking for eye catching, creative and informative posters that promote geography as an excellent choice, highlighting its relevance and demonstrating how studying geography can help you understand the world we live in and the ‘big issues’ that we face as a society.

Your posters should include details of why geography is a useful and relevant subject to study, why studying geography matters and how it can help you to understand a range of ideas and concepts. We also want to hear about the skills that geographers have that make them stand out from the crowd, and where geography can take you. Geographers work in a wide range of careers and employment sectors, so your poster should highlight some of the jobs that geographers do and demonstrate how geographers make a difference. We also want to hear what parts of geography you find the most interesting and useful to study and why!

Follow the link at the top of the post for details on how to enter.

Discovering Antarctica refreshed

I received my RGS bulletin a few days ago with news of events leading up to Christmas.

It explained the work that has been going on to refresh one of the sites which I have used every year since it appeared, and also contributed a small section to when it first launched.

Discovering Antarctica has had some new sections added and others refreshed, with the help of Polar scientists.

It remains a real go-to site for us at King's Ely and we will be teaching our Pole to Pole unit again later in the year...

Young Geographer of the Year Competition 2023

Around about the time of the GA Conference, the theme of the Royal Geographical Society's Young Geographer of the Year award is revealed. 

The new theme is now revealed.

We always use this competition as a focus for the final month or so of the Summer term, when lessons are often disrupted by trips and other events, and this forms a useful basis for some lovely class work. Students have time to complete their entries over the summer and we then collect them in in September and have an in-school competition judging and then send off the best entries.

The Young Geographer of the Year is the Society’s annual competition which recognises the outstanding work of the next generation of geographers. With its age ranges spanning the primary years to A Level, the competition encourages thoughtful and creative answers to the competition’s theme which is set each year.

The Society encourages schools to run their own in-house competition and then send their top 10 entries into the national competition. The Young Geographer competition has been running for over 20 years and in 2020 over 10,000 young people took part.

The theme for the Young Geographer of the Year competition 2023 is:

A blueprint for the future

The Society invites students from KS2 to KS5 to create their own blueprint for the future. 

They are looking for innovative ideas to address problems in areas such as food production and supply, energy and sustainability, water security, resources, population growth, economic crisis, transport, travel, urbanisation, risk management, trade, environmental management, biodiversity and more. 

Your ideas and recommendations should be forward-thinking, taking into consideration the depth of the problems and the reasons behind them, as well as what can be done to mitigate them. 

Your blueprint for the future could be a design for an eco-city, or a plan to produce and distribute enough food to feed the world. It could be a look at the future of energy and how we can produce enough energy sustainably without harming the environment, or a plan to revolutionise travel and transport in your country or beyond. 

Your plan must be realistic, but we welcome ideas for futuristic strategies and new technologies.

Details of the competition are here.

To get an idea of the standard of entries of last year's winners, head here.

Entering the competition

The competition has four categories.

Key Stage 2 (pupils aged 7-11)

Key Stage 3 (pupils aged 11-14)

Key Stage 4 or GCSE (pupils aged 14-16)

Key Stage 5 or A Level (pupils aged 16-18)

Students should enter the Key Stage category they will be in on 30 June 2023. 

The deadline for receipt of all entries is Monday 2 October 2023 at 5.00pm. 

Entries received after this time will not be accepted. The RGS encourages schools to run an in-house competition and only send their top 10 entries into the national competition. 

All winners and highly commended students will be invited to an Awards Ceremony at the Society in London on Friday 8 December 2023.

The general entry criteria are the same as usual

KS2, KS3 and KS4 students should produce an A3 size poster entry. 

This can be handmade (then submitted electronically using a scanned copy or photograph) or using PowerPoint, Word, Publisher or PDF, etc. KS5 students should produce an Esri Story Map or write an essay – both of which should contain no more than 1,500 words. 

Key Stage 2 criteria: 

Provide your plan for at least one geographical issue, using annotated images, maps or diagrams. 

Key Stage 3 criteria: Provide your plan for at least two or more geographical issues, using annotated images, maps or diagrams. 

Key Stage 4 criteria: Provide your plan for at least three or more geographical issues, using annotated images, maps, diagrams and data. 

Key Stage 5 criteria: Provide your plan for multiple geographical issues, using annotated images, maps, diagrams and data.

Good luck to all those who put together an entry.

Geographies of Home

Geography starts at home, but what and where is home?

A key project to influence the thinking of this topic has been the Stay Home Stories project involving Alison Blunt from QMUL and part funded by the RGS-IBG.

We will refer to this in our work in the new academic year.

I have been loaned a copy of Alison's new book and it's excellent.

After HOME, we will also be looking at AWAY, with an entry for the Royal Geographical Society's Young Geographer of the Year competition.

Young Geographer of the Year Competition 2021

It's time for the RGS-IBG Young Geographer of the Year Competition once again. Last year, this formed part of our lockdown learning and resulted in some good outputs and entries. We will be inviting you to take part in the competition again and providing some guidance in the next term, while being especially mindful of the impact on our own school community.

We are delighted to announce that our Young Geographer of the Year Competition, organised in partnership with @GeographicalMag, is open! Pupils are encouraged to create and submit an annotated map revealing how their lives have been shaped by COVID-19. https://t.co/lsU6EMUQWF pic.twitter.com/lhqu5feHFC

— RGS-IBG Schools (@RGS_IBGschools) April 1, 2021

This year the title is 'Remapping our Lives'.

For this year’s Young Geographer of the Year competition the RGS-IBG are asking young people to create an annotated map which reveals how their lives have been shaped by the Covid pandemic.

They are are interested to see maps which illustrate and describe:

• Which local human and physical features they and their family used during the pandemic
• Why some places were especially important to young people
• The places they couldn’t visit and why
• If the pandemic has led to them experiencing any new places in their local area
• How the pandemic changed their geographical understanding of their local area
• Any links which ‘stretch’ their maps to other places which were also important to them during the pandemic

Entering the competition
The competition has four categories as usual:

1. Key Stage 2 (pupils aged 7-11)
2. Key Stage 3 (pupils aged 11-14)
3. Key Stage 4 or GCSE (pupils aged 14-16)
4. Key Stage 5 or A Level (pupils aged 16-18)

Students should enter the Key Stage category they will be in on 30 June 2021.

The deadline for receipt of all entries is Thursday 22 July 2021 at 5.00pm. 

For all the details, see the website here.

Cultural Geography of the Fens

Thanks to Steve Brace of the RGS-IBG for letting me know about this new addition to the Caught by the River website.

It's a short film which has been made by Rowan Jaines as part of her work on the Cultural Geography of the Fens. It focuses on the Cambridgeshire Fens, through which I travel on a normal work day and have done for the last eight years.

This video essay is part of a four-year research project exploring the cultural geography of the Fen region in the East of England. 

The film is made up of a bricolage of clips of the Fen region, scavenged from the internet and put together in a piecemeal fashion so that the images on screen both intensify and disrupt the linear arc of the narration. 

This is a film that aims to show the Fens as haunted by both the past and those things that have not yet come to be.

Young Geographer of the Year Award 2020

This year’s RGS-IBG Young Geographer of the Year competition gives young people the chance to explore the potential that geography holds.

The title this year is particularly apt.

Although we might all be confined to our homes, and doing #geographyathome, the RGS-IBG are asking young people to explore their wider geographical horizons by providing entries to the Young Geographer of the Year competition and explore the geography of:
'The world beyond my window'

They are interested in entries that explore the human and physical geography of places that exist beyond a young person's window, be it locally or further afield. They want to know how young people’s lives are connected to and influenced by these places - be the connections physical, digital or emotional. They also want students to demonstrate that they understand how geographical processes in the physical and human worlds have created these places and might be changing them.

The competition has four categories as usual.

• Key Stage 2 (pupils aged 7-11)
• Key Stage 3 (pupils aged 11-14)
• Key Stage 4 or GCSE (pupils aged 14-16)
• Key Stage 5 or A Level (pupils aged 16-18)

Students should enter the Key Stage category which they will be in as of 30 June 2020.

The deadline for receipt of all entries is Tuesday 30 June 2020 at 5.00pm.

All entries must include an Entry Form. Submissions can be made by individual students or teachers. Teacher and school contact details must be provided. If you are a teacher sending in entries, please note how many students took part in the competition.

Given the COVID outbreak, entries can only be submitted as an electronic copy, scan or photo and must be accompanied with an entry form.

General entry criteria
KS2, KS3 and KS4 students will produce an A3 size entry. This can be hand-made (then sent in electronically via a scanned copy or photograph) or using PowerPoint, word, publisher or PDF, etc.
KS5 students will produce an Esri Story Map containing no more than 1500 words.

King's Ely Geographers will be taking part in this during the 2nd half of the summer term to put together an entry in time for the deadline date. More details on the Firefly page.

Full details on the application form here.

Fearghal is cool...

We've been using some materials from the Water Diaries this last half term, particularly the expedition planning scheme that was written to accompany the RGS Land Rover Bursary funded project.



This Red Bull site shows some of Fearghal's travels which have been run alongside his teaching career apparently earning him the description in the title of the blog post.

Take a look and see what you think.

RGS Teachmeet

RGS Teachmeet confirmed now for Wednesday the 9th of November
Sadly, I can't make it to London on a school night, so will follow from afar.
Sign up wiki page here.

A new resource I wrote on Mapping London

There is a new area of the updated RGS-IBG website which you may not have seen.
It is a project called Rediscovering London's Geography.

One outcome of the project has been the creation of teaching resources, with more to come.

The first two are now up on the website, and both would be useful to those teaching the new KS3 for the first time.

The first is a resource exploring Ice Ages and Geological Timescales, which has been written by Dr. David Anderson: Head of Geography at Eton College.

The second one is called Mapping London, and took me the first two weeks of my summer holidays to write and put together. There are 6 sessions which can be followed with KS3 students.

Thanks to the various colleagues who are mentioned along the way in the unit for their ideas which were adapted and used in various elements of the unit.
The ideas could be adapted for other cities too...

Study Day at the RGS

Heading down to London in December with the 6th form students for a study day at the RGS-IBG. Will be good to see Simon Oakes in action.
Always good to hear other people talking about their areas of expertise.

Keep an eye out for similar events by visiting the RGS page.

Antarctic Futures...

While travelling back from the 30 degree heat of London yesterday, I tried to cool down by reading about the frozen continent of Antarctica
This is an excellent book which provides a range of interesting perspectives on the people who work in the continent, as well as changes that are taking place.
There's plenty of science, along with an excellent historical timeline of the continent, and a glossary of key terms including some of the slang terms used by the scientists who over-winter at the South Pole base.
I shall also be making use of some of the activities from the rather wonderful RGS-IBG Discovering Antarctica site. I wrote the curriculum links section for this website some time ago, when still teaching.

One possible focus for student enquiries and writing could be the current discussions which are taking place to determine whether the oceans around Antarctica will be declared as marine sanctuaries. This would connect with many of the relevant themes, and also explore some of the ideas relating to seas and oceans which are now mentioned in the new draft curriculum document.

For those who may not be aware, there's a sister-site called Discovering the Arctic which is also available. There are less interactive elements here perhaps, but there's plenty of useful material. I had a hand in this too: writing the section on SWIPA - a report on the changing nature of permafrost and ice in the Arctic regions. There are some new geographies emerging here, and we shall try to offer opportunities to explore those in more detail.
When the temperature is soaring outside it's nice to read about something as cold as ice...