The RGS at Norwich School: People, Planet and Partnership in the Spotlight
November 26, 2024
We were proud to host the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) on 26 November 2024 as part of our commitment to educational enrichment and culture in the county.
We were delighted to host for its third year our Youth Micro Lectures evening. An appreciative audience in the Blake Studio of parents, pupils, RGS Fellows, staff and friends witnessed six remarkable lectures delivered by young people in Years 12 and 13 from various schools who are passionate about a wide variety of pressing issues facing our fragile planet.
Topics presented by these students included a fascinating exploration of the consequences of digital footprints from Joshua of University Technical College, and a shocking lecture on nature deprivation in the Broads from Kit of Notre Dame School. Also, from that same school we enjoyed hearing from Eri presenting the urgent climate-change threats facing indigenous peoples in glacier regions and hearing from Caroline and Maya on the unrelenting dangers of global over population. From Norwich School, Reuben’s lecture on the suppression of First Nations peoples in Australia was sobering, and Emily spoke eloquently on the opportunities of rewilding in the UK.
Our evening was introduced by staff member Dr Anthony Speca, himself a FRGS. The main proceedings were run with characteristic charm and insight by our illustrious honorary chair Tim O’Riordan Emeritus Professor of Environmental Sciences at the UEA, back for his third year. His closing remarks about the skill on display and the mature thought processes on show throughout the evening were greatly encouraging to our young presenters. In conclusion he urged our young presenters to be courageous as adults in tacking the planet’s pressing challenges with the same enthusiasm and insight as they showed during the evening.
We are grateful to the RGS under its dynamic Chair James Firebrace for having used the school as the organisation’s host site throughout 2024, during which we have seen a scintillating programme of high-profile and varied talks delivered to packed audiences.
The RGS are back on site again in the new year on Thursday 6 February 2025 with a talk is entitled: Rewilding: what does it mean for how we understand nature? delivered by Cambridge University ecologist Alex Petter.






