Fairfield High School: First time(?) win in WWQ

Wow! What fun! Fairfield worthy Worldwise winners.

“I was very excited to attend the WorldWise Quiz for the first time and to leave with the trophy was a bonus! We hope Fairfield will defend the title in the future. We would like to thank the Bristol GA, the University of Bristol and our amazing Geography teachers at Fairfield!” Reuben Corbett

“The maps round was the highlight of my night, as we got to compare maps of Blagdon Lake from 1800, 1900 and 2010, which I recently have cycled to from Bristol!” Elliot Strutt

“I was ecstatic with our score and I felt like we excelled in the coast round having studied it in Year 10 and having visited Exmouth beach on our fieldtrip where we saw landforms come to life.” Toby Redfern

WWQ contestants await the start of the competition in the Great Hall of the University of Bristol.

Ahead of the event held on 9th November 2023, we saw a significant increase in number of teams interested in participation in this geography competition for Y10 and Y11. As the number reached the threshold capacity for QEH, who were last year’s winners, we pivoted to the Great Hall at the University of Bristol – a fitting location for the competition with lengthy history.

Seventeen teams from 10 schools assembled in the room at 6pm, with many rather bedraggled from the wind and rain. Each team was seated in anticipation at a large table, with parent and teacher onlookers sat on the sides. Prof. David Richards (Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol) was the host for the evening, managing the logistics and supporting the Question Master, Dr. Tony Hoare. Tony continues to play an active role for the Bristol GA having been a committee member for the past 35 years and is a veteran of many quizzes.

The WorldWise Quiz has been running for 40 years; having been instigated locally by Sheila Jones in 1983. At the time, it was “thought that this would become an annual event” (see image below). It’s fair to say that this has happened with minor changes to the format. Perhaps we should line up the local press for our next instalment. In 1984, “concern was express over the poor response from the media” (see image below).

Minutes of the Committee Meeting of the Bristol Branch of the Geographical Association held on Tuesday February, 1984. The first reference to a locally organised Worldwise Quiz by Sheila Jones.

Sincere thanks are due to the unflappable technical team, who managed the collection and collation of results; Michelle Graffagnino and PGCE students (School of Education, University of Bristol), Simon Killen (St. Mary Redcliffe) and Harry West (Geography and Environmental Management, UWE), enthusiastically assisted some family support.

The Worldwise Quiz featured 8 rounds (alphabet, aerial photos, sustainability, coasts, field course, OS mapping skills, cities and mixed bag). Some of the questions were provided by the GA and we acknowledge the efforts they have put in here. Some questions were replaced with more locally-specific options.

Interim results were revealed at the half-time break, at which point it was extremely close, with teams from Fairfield, BGS, QEH and St. Mary Redcliffe and Temple all within a few points and no outright leader. In the final analysis, a clear winner with 54 points emerged – Fairfield High School. Quotes from the winning team members appear at the start of this piece. Second place went to St. Mary Redcliffe with 50 points, and narrowly behind them in third place were QEH2 with 49 points.

CONGRATULATIONS to all participants. You were instrumental in making this a fun event to host and we are already looking forward to the next version. A regional final would be appropriate, if we can encourage potential competitors from Bath or Gloucester, perhaps.