SWRG Schools Competition
Schools Competition 2019
The south west regional group hosted the final of the Key Stage 5 Schools Competition 2019 at the University of Plymouth on 6 February 2019.
The Final will be held at Burlington House, Piccadilly, as a full day event on Thursday 28 March 2019. The format of the Final will be the same as the Heats, with a presentation, poster and quiz component.
Schools Competition 2015
This year we developed our already well established Schools Geology Competition, combining it with a workshop on the volcanic hazards associated with Mount Merapi (Indonesia), led by Dr Paul Cole (Plymouth University). This was followed by a talk by Professor Iain Stewart (Plymouth University) on “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Earthquakes” which was well received by the schools attending.
As before we hold a competition for key stage 3 / key stage 4 students where they have to design a poster on a subject of their choice under the following guidance - “Significant people, places or events in Geoscience”
At key stage 5 the regional group follow the established national competition guidelines, which involve the design of an academic poster, a 5 minute presentation on the subject of the poster and a quiz.
Winners in 2015 year were:
- Key stage 3 / key stage 4 – Torquay Girls’ Grammar School
- Key Stage 5 – Wells Cathedral School
The regional group thanks to Plymouth University for hosting the event.
The key stage 3 / key stage 4 winning team from Torquay Girls’ Grammar School being presented with their prize by Alan White (Chair of the South West Regional Group).
Schools Competition - 2012
The key stage 5 winning team from Wells Cathedral School being presented with their prize by Alan White (Chair of the South West Regional Group).
7 December 2011 saw the inaugural Geological Society (South West Regional Group) schools competition, held at Torquay Girls’ Grammar School. There were two separate competitions held this year – one for students at key stage 4 (GCSE) and one for students at key stage 5 (A Level).
We had a large number of entries for both competitions and were pleased that we had a mixture of students studying Geology and Geography. After initial judging the top 5 students (or teams of students) were invited to the Younger Geoscientists evening, which this year was held at Torquay Girls’ Grammar School. They were asked to make a presentation to the assembled audience. The competitions were judged by Dani Pullen of the SWRG committee and our special guest Professor Iain Stewart of the University of Plymouth.
The key stage 4 competition was keenly fought between students from Falmouth Community School, Hele School (Plympton), Truro School and Torquay Girls’ Grammar School.
The results of the key stage 4 competition were as follows:
1st place
Alicia Brassett, Sophie Forbes Lake and Ruby Harrop from Falmouth Community School who gave a presentation on their geological hero – Mary Anning
2nd place
Alex Hardman (Truro School) who gave a presentation on Edward Suess.
3rd Place (Joint)
Emma Beenham from Torquay Girls’ Grammar School who gave a presentation on Maurice & Katia Krafft
And Callum MacDonald from Truro School who gave a presentation on Alexander Johnston
Not to be outdone the key stage 5 competition was keenly contested between students from Devonport High School for Boys, Falmouth Community School, Torquay Boys’ Grammar School and Torquay Girls’ Grammar School.
The results of the key stage 5 competition were as follows:
1st place
Reece Broome from Devonport High School for Boys who gave a presentation on the title “Is there a future for mining in the south west?”
2nd place
Freddie Taylor from Torquay Boys’ Grammar School who gave a presentation on the title “We will never be able to predict Geological Hazards effectively”
3rd place
Greg Wills from Falmouth Community School who gave a presentation on the title “T. Rex Predator or Scavenger?”
We would like to thank all of the schools who participated in the competition this year and look forward to welcoming more schools for the competition in 2012.