Welcome to the official site of the Bristol Geographical Association. The Bristol Branch of the Geographical Association is now over 100 years old. Our aim is to support and enhance geographical education in the Bristol region. Friendly and mad but dedicated we would love you to join up and become part of the action (of which there is plenty) Below you will find information on the following:

1. Up and coming dates for the 2011 and 12 GA events
2. Photos and comments from recent events that have taken place 
3. The GA Constitution
4. Resources from our lectures for you to use
5. Contact us 
6. Subscriptions so you can get a slice of this great value action

The GA 6th form Competition. This takes place in march and challenges students' geographical knowledge, understanding and geographical might in a fast paced decision making activity.

Below is a summary from the 2010 winners and runners up of the GA sixth form competition, Redland High School for Girls

OFFSHORE? FOR SHORE!

Redland geographers offshore wind farm schemes, blow the competition out of the water!  

On Tuesday 2^nd March, Redland High sent 3 teams to the annual Geographical Association Decision Making Exercise, at Bristol University. The 13 teams from Bristol schools were given a lecture on the importance of sustainable wind energy and how this can make a difference to our future.

With this information in mind, we set about creating a poster and a presentation explaining what we thought was the ideal location for a new wind farm on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland. Easier said than done with just an hour to complete the task, and only 3 minutes to present our views as a team to the three judges. After much dispute, we decided the offshore wind farm was the ideal solution for Scotland’s energy gap, rejecting the onshore scheme, a smaller scaled scheme, and the ‘do nothing’ approach.

To be successful in the competition, teamwork was essential as we soon found out after arguing our way through the first 10 minutes! We also learned how to think on our feet and communicate our ideas effectively to the judges in such a short space of time. Innovative thinking was important to make sure that our ideas stood out against the tough competition, many of which had also selected the offshore option. One of the difficulties we faced was to decide which information we should present to the judges to justify our choice. With such a whirlwind of ideas narrowing them down was difficult. 

The lecture had also highlighted the importance of sustainable development to the teams – ‘Meeting the needs of society without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.’ This meant considering the environmental, economic, social and political impacts of the scheme and basing all our decisions on these aspects.

The GA GCSE Worldworld Quiz - Teams of three GCSE students represent their school in a multiple round quiz against other school teams. Rounds include general geographical knowledge, skills and fieldwork research, places, maps and many more.

The Bath GA Quiz 2012

Beechen Cliff win the first B&NES and West Wiltshire Worldwise Quiz at BRLSI

On the evening of Monday, March 12th, the first Geographical Association Worldwise Quiz was held for B&NES and West Wiltshire Schools. Six teams took part and the top four schools were, Writhlington, Oldfield Girls, Harden Huish and Beechen Cliff. In a tight finish, Beechen Cliff emerged the winners and were presented with the fine Don Lovell Memorial crystal globe, which they will hold until next Year's Quiz, in March 2013. (see image below)

The Quiz was organised for 13 to 15 year-old students by Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution's Co-Convenor for Geography, Mrs. Rosemary Routledge, as a joint venture with the Geographical Association.

In the beautiful Elwyn and Lonsdale Rooms of BRLSI, Quizmaster, Dr. Tony Hoare, from Bristol University, used all his experience as a veteran of many Worldwise quiz events in Bristol, to deliver the excellent and rigorous G.A. questions, which included resources from Ordnance Survey maps, aerial and satellite images and  landscape photos, plus up-to-date questions based on recent world affairs.

The GA 6th form lectures. Every year, we run 3 to 4 lectures linked to the various A level topic areas in the Autumn term. These take place in Bristol University at the Peel lecture theatre and start at 7.30pm. See above for the list of this year's up and coming lectures. We also recommend students attend Royal Geographical Society lectures where famous faces are sometimes spotted (see below) 

3. The GA Constitution 

 Read about The GA Constitution below to find out more

GA Constitution.doc

GA presentation at annual lecture 2009 -2010.ppt

4. Resources from our lectures 

BristolGAtLecture8_10_08.pdf  

5. Contact us

To join the Bristol Branch of the GA please contact the Membership Secretary: Chris.Spencer@uwe.ac.uk

Officers:

President: Garry Atterton
garryatterton@hotmail.com

Secretary: Janet Lee
janet.lee@cityofbristol.ac.uk

Treasurer and Membership Secretary:
Dr. Chris Spencer
chris.spencer@uwe.ac.uk

6. Subscriptions 

In order to attend the various events we organise including lectures, competitions, and quizzes we ask for a single payment of just £6 per year per student or £2 each per student per event. If you have any queries please contact Chris Spencer at Chris.Spencer@uwe.ac.uk

Cheques should be made payable to to Bristol branch of Geographical Association and sent to Chris Spencer at the following address

Dr Chris Spencer
Faculty of Environment and Technology
University of the West of England
Bristol, BS16 1QY

7. Useful links

Resources

http://www.gatm.org.uk/  Geography at the movies

http://www.geographypages.co.uk/  Geography pages

http://www.sln.org.uk/geography/  Staffordshire Learning Net

http://www.juicygeography.co.uk/  Juicy Geography

http://www.geographyinthenews.rgs.org/  Geography in the news

http://www.geographygeek.co.uk/  Geography Geek

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/geography/  BBC Geography GCSE Revision

http://www.gapminder.org/   Gapminder - Statistics in motion

Education

http://www.bne.uwe.ac.uk/gem/  University of the West of England

http://www.bris.ac.uk/geography/ Bristol University

Geography bodies

http://www.geography.org.uk/  The Geographical Association

http://www.rgs.org/HomePage.htm  Royal Geographical Society

http://www.geographyteachingtoday.org.uk/  Geography Teaching Today

8. Archive materials

GA PROGRAMME 2009-10[1].doc 

GA PROGRAMME 201011(1).doc

6th form competition 2009.ppt  

6th form competition 2010.ppt

6th form competition 2011.ppt