2005: Sue Lomas, OBE DL

Sue Lomas is a stalwart of the GA, and is still active supporting Worldwise Challenge (being Chair of the Worldwise Board) and international GeoOlympiad events, along with other contributions to the GA, as well as serving on the GA's Education Group.

Sue was also another GA President with experience of teaching, having been a Head of Geography in two schools.
At the time of taking up the Presidency she was a School Improvement Officer, and in fact she asked me over to Salford to work with colleagues from a school there and introduce them to some GIS ideas when I was working for the Geographical Association back in the day. 

She is also involved in the GA Manchester Branch

She was Head of Geography at Connell Sixth Form College.

Sue has also been awarded an OBE for her services to young people and Scouting.

She is still involved in promoting Outdoor education, and was involved early on in the development of the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom (CLOtC) with its award and accreditation scheme. She also participates in the organisation of the GeoOlympiad competitions, accompanying competitors to their venues.



I am grateful to Sue for sending more information via the Google Form which I set up for this project.

She told me:

"I was born in 1953 in Birmingham

Sue attended the King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Girls - one of the best known schools in the city.
I have a University of London degree but studied in Derby. I then did my PGCE in Cheltenham for a Bristol University Certificate.
I started out working as a geography teacher in rurban Cheshire, before moving to Macclesfield to become a Head of Department and then Senior teacher. I was also an advisory teacher for geography in Cheshire with Jeremy Krause. I met Mark Higginbottom for the first time here. He was an NQT in a Cheshire school whom we were working with. 

I moved to be the Foundation Subjects Consultant and then Key Stage 3 Strategy Manager for the National Strategies."

These were an important part of teaching development during the 2nd decade of my time as a geography teacher.

"Moving into a school improvement role, I became an inspector for Geography ITE. Taking early retirement in 2010 I started my own company and became a schools' inspector. I also inspected abroad in the UAE. I have joint-authored two sets of Key Stage 3 textbooks, both edited by John Hopkin. One for the UK: "Geography Matters" and another for Pakistan.

My passion has always been for my subject and if people ask me what I do, I always say I'm a geography teacher - as this was my first love.

I have been involved with the GA since the 1980s when Jeremy Krause invited me to join the geography education community. I have always enjoyed working in a collegiate way, and to get together with like-minded professionals, and the GA provided me with lots of high quality CPD in my own role. 

After serving as the President (for the four year cycle introduced by Michael Bradford) I moved on to Worldwise and was lucky enough to have accompanied the UK Team to the Geography World Championships in venues across the world (sadly now defunct) and from 2006 I was one of the chaperones for the UK teams who attend the International Geography Olympiad. 

I am now the Chair of that competition - what a fantastic opportunity that has been - working with colleagues from the iGU. Meeting young people from over fifty countries and working with their leaders (teachers or university staff) to write the three tests has certainly been a privilege.

I am a GA Consultant and that has given me a range of experiences from reviewing the quality of geography in Liverpool to supporting new heads of department across England. 

I am also an assessor for the PGQM."

When she became the GA President, she was the Key Stage 3 Strategy Manager for Salford Local Authority.

Sue's Presidential theme was "Sensational Geography".

Sue told me: 

"I think in those days, the theme was very much influenced by the GA (rather than chosen by the President as they are now), so I think I agreed the theme with David Lambert, who was the CEO at the time. I was always keen to "promote the varied approaches and the rich, diverse resources that we can share" (excerpt from Conference brochure). 

I started in the GA as the volunteer PR Officer and then became Chair of the M & P D Committee. I have been involved in Worldwise since the 1990s at first with Keith Orrell, when we were tasked with updating the whole offer for students. That was when we changed the Worldwise Quiz Final (which tended to happen at the GA Conference itself) to the Worldwise Challenge. 

The latter included the practical experience at an FSC site rather than the (independent) schools' final at Conference. 

Keith's and Tony Thomas' links to the FSC meant we were able to provide a free weekend to teams from schools across the country. Peter Smith was heavily involved too. Sadly, I think we have seen the last of the Challenge events, given the COVID-19 situation with residential centres. Since 2006, Mark Higginbottom and I have been joint chairs of Worldwise. I will always be grateful for the experiences I had and the people I met at the GA, and I'm sure my career was enhanced by being so heavily involved.

Currently, I work to try and ensure that new teachers are well-prepared for the profession. I run two Appropriate bodies for NQTs and I work as a SCITT geography tutor and an Associate Lecturer in Manchester Metropolitan University.

Of her time as President, Sue told me:
`'It was a privilege to be part of the roll-out of the Action Plan and I recall many interesting meetings with the officers of the RGS, some at their headquarters. There was a real buzz about the recognition that Geography is an important subject and it was great at the conference to promote all the brilliant resources and activities that would see Geography given much greater status, particularly in secondary schools. I also have some great memories of the Conference. It was in Manchester, so it was lovely to be 'on my own patch'. The Exhibition was amazing and in those days we had a couple of good receptions - including a Chinese banquet! I also attended the Scottish Awards event. The best bits were meeting the wide range of colleagues that make up our membership some of whom were almost as passionate as me about the subject."

I have been involved with the GA since the 1980s when Jeremy Krause invited me to join the geography education community. I have always enjoyed working collegiately and to get together with likeminded professionals and it provided me with lots of high quality CPD in my own role. After serving as the President (for four years) I moved to Worldwise and was lucky enough to have accompanied the UK Team to the Geography World Championships in venues across the world (sadly now defunct) and from 2006 I was one of the chaperones for the UK teams who attend the International Geography Olympiad. I am now the Chair of that competition - what a fantastic opportunity that has been - working with colleagues from the iGU. Meeting young people from over fifty countries and working with their leaders (teachers or university staff) to write the three tests has certainly been a privilege.

References
GA News Autumn 2005 - biography and setting out her stall for her conference.



This book was co-written with Linda Thompson, who was serving on the GA's Secondary Phase Committee when I joined in 2004, thanks to the invitation of Rob Lodge. 

I remember using this book as a teacher in Norfolk.

Sue was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Greater Manchester in 2015.

This website has a useful short biography of Sue as well.

Sue was born in Birmingham and moved to the North West for her first teaching job in 1978. She taught Geography for 20 years before moving into school improvement work in Salford. Sue now has her own consulting business working in a variety of educational fields. She is a qualified Ofsted inspector and has worked as an Associate Lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University. Sue has a passion for her subject, and has been a member of its professional body, the Geographical Association for many years, including being its President in 2006. She works on a voluntary basis to enthuse young people about the subject and is the chair of the association's youth arm 'Worldwise'. Sue has been a member of several school governing bodies and has also worked as an assessor for the Duke of Edinburgh's Award.

A member of Girlguiding since she was eight years' old, Sue is now a trustee of the national organisation. She is passionate about promoting the opportunities Girlguiding offers to girls and young women and has recently completed her term of office as Region Chief Commissioner for North West England. Sue is also national chair of the charity 'Youth United' which supports the work of the ten largest uniformed organisations across the UK.

Sue is married to Ian and lives in Culcheth, Warrington. She has one daughter who works as a teacher in London. Jen is very much involved with the Geographical Association and its work in Primary.

Images: Copyright Bryan Ledgard and the Geographical Association

As always, memories of Sue Lomas' time as GA President welcome.