Schools Geology Challenge

On the evening of Tuesday 23 March, the very pleasant surroundings of the Dutch Barn on the Lower School site of Whitchurch High was the venue for the inaugural ‘Schools Geology Challenge'. This competition was set up by a liaison between the school and Paul Maliphant of Halcrow, who has helped to initiate many other curriculum linked events at Whitchurch.

The Whitchurch team were competing against Cowbridge, Monmouth, Barry, Amman Valley and Coleg Sir Gar to win this prestigious event.  The prospect became even more daunting with the thought of the eminent geologists on the panel of judges, including Dr Brian Lovell, President of the Geological Society, Professor Ian Hall of the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences in Cardiff University and Dr Ted Nield, editor of Geoscientist magazine.

In the first part of the evening each team gave a five minute presentation on the topic ‘What can geologists do to save the planet?’.  Many of the schools focused on the link between geology and climate change, but our own Tess Davies from Year 12 gave an excellent solo performance that considered how important prediction was, particularly in relation to earthquakes.  Lecturing to the President of the Geological Society; what a fantastic opportunity for an A-level student!

The latter part of the evening involved the teams competing in a geology quiz.  In addition to Tess, our team consisted of Will McMahon, Liv Hamlett and Alex Cole, all Year 13.  The performance of Whitchurch can only be described as outstanding, displaying their in depth knowledge of all things geological.  They literally blitzed the other teams and came out as worthy winners of the superb trophy.  Dr Brian Lovell commented on how impressed he was by their extensive knowledge. 

It is a satisfying thought that the first name on the trophy will be that of Whitchurch and won on home territory.  We can’t wait for next year’s competition and hopefully further success.  With increasing numbers doing GCSE and A-level Geology, the quality of future teams from Whitchurch is most certainly assured.

We were also very grateful for the support of The Geological Society, Halcrow, the National Museum of Wales, Dargo Associates and WSP Remediation for their support and sponsorship.  It was interesting to meet Dr Larry Thomas of Dargo, returning to Whitchurch over 50 years after studying Geology in the school.