On Thursday January 17th, the Geography Department hosted a very successful after-school workshop involving more than 20 training Geography teachers from the University of Manchester, who ran revision sessions for our A2 Geographers.

This is the third year the Geography Department have organised the event. We provided refreshments and the room was organized into four work stations covering Cartographic, Graphical, Statistical and ICT skills in Geography. A group of the PGCSE teachers gave an introductory presentation on the application of Geographical Information Systems (GIS), now recognised as a crucial tool by so many professional bodies including the Government and Police Force to name but two. Such skills acquired by Geographers make them highly employable and it is an important area in all University Geography Departments, so the students could show the girls a very up-to-date view of GIS potential.

There was a real buzz about the room and the girls engaged well with all the training Teachers. The presentation was very informative and presented in an interesting way so the girls could see the amazing scope of synthesising spatial information and its useful application.

The work stations were divided up into the main themes of the External AQA Skills Paper. The students had prepared effectively and really addressed not only the mechanics of the techniques but the application to the questions on the Examination Paper. All the girls have said how useful it was and how much they benefitted from the experience at this stage of preparation and revision for the examination.

There were some excellent teachers amongst the group which is extremely encouraging and the atmosphere in the room was exciting and positive. There was a lot of material to cover with the girls answering and asking questions and the responses from the student teachers reflected their grasp of the area they had prepared. The young potential teachers were very impressed with the girls' responses and their overall attitude to the whole event. They commented what a wonderful atmosphere there was with pupils totally engaged and wanting to understand. Certainly the nineteen Sixth Form Geographers who attended were a credit to the school.

With Sixth Form and university students together we had over forty Geographers present. It was inspiring to see everyone so committed to the cause and enthusiastic about the subject.

Julie Buckley, Head of Geography