Rex Walford Award 2015

The Rex Walford Award is now available for new(ish) teachers to apply for once again.

It is offered by the Royal Geographical Society in conjunction with their Young Geographer of the Year competition.

The Rex Walford Award is for trainees or teachers who have just started their careers, including students enrolled on a PGCE, Teach First and Schools Direct alongside NQTs and colleagues at a similar stage in their careers.
Linked to the Young Geographer of the Year competition, this years’ Rex Walford Award asks entrants to produce a short scheme of work, covering at least three lessons that focuses on the question ‘Why does Antarctica matter?’ The Society welcomes innovative and effective approaches to engaging students with this question and would also be interested to see examples of students’ work that has resulted from the lessons.
The deadline for all entries is 5pm on Friday 16th October 2015.

The 2014 winner of the award was Becki Quigley. At the time she was a recently qualified teacher at the McAuley Catholic Voluntary Academy in Doncaster. Her innovative scheme of work encouraged her students to think about the ways geography can help their lives; from keeping up with the news and examining the world's major problems, to helping their school become more environmentally friendly.

Becki's resources are now available for you to download from the RGS website.

Finally, for those who aren't familiar with Rex Walford, you can read this piece here. At the time of Rex's untimely death I was working at the GA and it was a great shock to all at Solly Street. A book of condolences was opened, and rapidly filled.

Rex's memorial service was held at Ely Cathedral, and over 1000 people attended. I am fortunate to go to the cathedral every week for school services, and I remember him often when sat in the South Transept.

I was also privileged to be at Wolfson College, Cambridge in the Old Library in April 2011, representing the Geographical Association at a remembrance party for Rex Walford.
MikeYounger, the retiring Head of Education faculty spoke about Rex and his many achievements. In particular, the need for geography to be engaging, critical and enquiring. I wrote about my memories of Rex here.

I was particularly struck with the words of Wendy Walford at the event, as she spoke about the 'tyranny of the question': the way that Rex really did seize every moment, with his boundless energy and inquisitiveness and would always ask "what have you achieved today", which seems like a reasonable question to ask at the end of each day, and to have in mind as the day progresses....

So, what have you achieved today ?

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