18/03/2008

A North-East MP realised his childhood ambition to become a geography teacher.

Doug Henderson, MP for Newcastle North, joined a class of Year 10 pupils at Gosforth High School, Newcastle upon Tyne, to help teach a geography lesson and learn more about the weather and impact of climate change.  Students prepared a local weather forecast using information from a weather station supplied by Northumbrian Water.

The water company has invested £100,000 supplying 85 schools in the region, including Gosforth High School, with an automated weather station and associated training, through the GLOBE programme, an international environmental education initiative set up by Al Gore in 1995.

Mr Henderson MP said: “My wife calls me a frustrated geography teacher and I’ve proved her right!  I thoroughly enjoyed myself.  The students showed a keen interest in weather forecasting, bringing together external data provided from sources such as the Met Office, combined with local information from the Northumbrian Water GLOBE weather station.”

Fifteen-year-old Ross Wilson, a pupil from Gosforth High School, said: “In some lessons it’s hard to imagine the reality of what you are being taught, but because GLOBE provides local information, it makes geography easy to understand.”

Another Gosforth High School student, May Elattar, also aged 15, said: “The GLOBE project has made lessons more enjoyable and keeping a record of this weather data is going to be beneficial in predicting general weather trends.”

John Mowbray, Northumbrian Water’s Director of Corporate Affairs, said: “Northumbrian Water prides itself on being immersed in community life and the GLOBE project is a unique opportunity for us to enhance the education of students in the communities we serve.

“The strategic positioning of the weather stations in schools right across the region will improve the data we have available to us to predict how our sewerage network will cope under different weather conditions.”

The GLOBE programme, which allows students to collect local weather data and record this online, is integrated into the National Curriculum, providing practical opportunities to increase skills in Science, Geography, Maths, I.C.T and Citizenship. Data is gathered and recorded in a standardised way so results from around the world are directly comparable. The data is used by Northumbrian Water, the Met Office, NASA, scientists and other schools around the world.

More information on the GLOBE project can be found at http://www.nwl.co.uk/3926.aspx.

For further information please contact Leanne Clough on 0191 301 6733.