GA Conference and Exhibition 2025

Hailing from Ysgol Clywedog in Wrexham, Nicholas Brown has been the Head of Geography and Horticulture for the last 6 years. During this time, he has boosted the uptake of Geography at KS4 from 16 pupils to a steady 120 (maximum allowed). Added to this he has developed an increasingly popular KS4 Horticulture option for those pupils that enjoy working in the outdoors environment but don’t necessarily want to learn in the classroom setting.

Nicholas aimed to make the Geography Department the ‘beating heart of the school’ by tapping into the pupil’s passion for exploration, rebelliousness, competition and fostering a harmonious coexistence with nature, many of whom don’t have gardens or outside space at home. Using a simple spoke and hub strategy linking Geography to fieldtrips, hands on environmental projects and modifying the curriculum away from traditional topics towards those relevant to the pupils’ lives, the popularity of the department quickly rose.

In 2019 Nicholas created the Ysgol Clywedog Eco-Taskforce TYFU Project. This project aims to rejuvenate the natural biodiversity of a former sports field by planting trees, creating a pond, adopting a no-mow strategy, and cultivating British wildflowers. In addition, it has established an allotment to provide struggling local families with access to fresh, seasonal, and chemical-free food, while also serving as a hub for pollination within the enhanced natural ecosystem. Furthermore, he tends to seven colonies of bees on his school’s premises, working with 30 volunteer student beekeepers and occasionally enjoying the sweet reward of honey from their collective labour. Nicholas’s efforts extend beyond this local endeavour, encompassing advocacy for social and environmental justice. By linking the pupils from Wrexham with their peers in North Africa, Lebanon and Bangladesh, Nicholas allows pupils to see they can make a difference, even if they live on a Council Estate in North Wales.

For all their work, both Nicholas and his pupils have won a number of National and International Awards.