GA Annual Conference 2026

The Bloxham Sustainability Challenge (BSC) is an award‑winning education–industry initiative that empowers Sixth Form students to become the sustainability leaders of tomorrow through authentic, place‑based enquiry. Students step into the role of environmental consultants, using ArcGIS, Survey123 and StoryMaps to investigate live development proposals - from solar parks and reservoirs to onshore wind farms. Working directly with professionals and analysing real spatial data, they develop critical thinking, digital literacy and global citizenship, while also completing the Pearson‑accredited EPQ Geospatial Innovation Pathway (worth half an A‑level), giving them recognised credentials and a valuable post‑18 advantage.
During this session delegates will gain hands‑on experience with next year’s Challenge, Planning for Sustainability: Shaping the Future of East West Rail, which positions students as consultants on one of the UK’s most ambitious infrastructure projects and provides a powerful real‑world context for learning. Strategically aligned with national educational and policy priorities, the BSC embeds climate literacy, geospatial capability and systems thinking into Year 12 curriculum and enrichment, while also directly supporting the growing industry demand for geospatial talent and building meaningful pathways into the green economy.

This workshop will provide classroom-based activities that help students consider the sustainability of different projects, before outlining a structure to support extended writing. It will also focus on how to develop students' ability to 'think like a geographer' so that they can make sense of the complex world around them. 

At last year's Conference I spoke about addressing misconceptions in the geography classroom. This year, I’d like to continue this theme by examining how we can discover what misconceptions our students might hold and how we can check they have understood what we have taught them. I’ll delve into practical, evidence-informed strategies for checking understanding, including ‘Do Now’ tasks, use of mini whiteboards and low-stakes formative assessment. Rooted in cognitive science, these approaches aim to make students’ thinking visible and help identify misconceptions early. Pitfalls and mistakes to avoid will also be discussed. Attendees will be invited to share their examples of effective methods. 

This 25-minute lecture, followed by 25 minute structured discussion, will explore the geography of health and disease as a powerful and engaging scheme of work within the KS3 curriculum. It will demonstrate how geographical knowledge can help young people understand health inequalities, global patterns of disease and the socio-environmental factors that shape wellbeing across different spatial scales. The lecture will outline practical ways to teach this topic, drawing on both local and global examples, and attendees will gain ideas for accessible, low-cost fieldwork, such as investigating Healthy Streets in the school’s surrounding area, as well as GIS to support teaching and learning. The session will highlight how studying geography equips students with the knowledge, critical thinking and transferable skills to engage with complex health issues. Links will also be made to post-16 pathways such as medicine and urban planning.

With the new 'Qualified for the Future' geography GCSE in Wales nearly at the end of its first year of teaching, what lessons can be learned from its development and inception? This session will consider what difference it has made in Welsh schools and what aspects might be useful to take forward for future GCSE reform in England.