Chair’s report
Appointees and Trustees:
Paul Davies continues to be our conference and event manager. He is being paid £6K pa for this role to ensure that ESTA is running events effectively.
Jodie Nichol-Gray has continued to work hard as membership secretary, trying to establish an accurate and up to date membership database. It is hoped changes to the way that membership fees are paid will assist with this task.
Jennifer Russell, as social media coordinator, has been very active and a keen contributor in committee meeting discussions. Jennie continues to shadow Ryan Lawson as Secondary Education coordinator.
Kevin Stephen has done a sterling job in representing us for the national specification and curriculum changes. Consultations are planned to commence in September and Kevin has been working with the Geological Society, and various mineral and mining institutions, to add weight to increase the Earth science content to the National Curriculum.Through links developed with Ben Lepley (ESTA President) Kevin was asked to present to the all party parliamentary group on critical minerals at the houses of parliament on the skills pipeline shortage in the Earth sciences. Here he discussed the issues of poor coverage, signposting and progression of the Earth sciences in the national curriculum as well as the paucity of teacher training for aspiring Earth science teachers and the declining numbers of students following GCSE, AS and A level geology.
We are still aiming to continue with our succession planning. If you are interested in shadowing any existing roles please do let us know. You are all welcome to attend meetings regardless of any roles. The agenda for the AGM will clarify all roles that need voting upon.
Industrial links:
Although, from September, Angela will no longer hold a trustee position she has been persuaded to take on a role as Industrial Links coordinator. Angela continues tirelessly in her quest for links to other professional and industrial bodies. Her superb networking abilities and wide range of contacts will prove incredibly valuable as we move forwards.
Summer School:
Pete Loader, Mike Walsh and Kevin Stephen have delivered another superb and very successful summer school. This is succession planning on a national scale, ensuring that the flow of new geology teachers keeps pace with the retirement of the “older generations”. The summer school delegates gave great feedback and are heading into the next academic year with confidence and full of teaching ideas.
Website:
In addition to organising the conference, Paul Davies has also been paid to transfer our website onto a different platform. This will hopefully not only give it greater functionality and a more professional appearance, but also to allow the rest of the committee to add articles and links. The final version is hoped to be fully functional and people will be able to join ESTA, pay their subscriptions, sign up for the summer schools and subsequent ESTA conferences. There will also be access to resources and members will be invited to share their own. Crucially, it will not be under the control of just one person, which caused the major problems with the last website.
Arron Lockwood has kindly offered to help maintain the website. Arron works in the marine geoservices industry and his help is greatly appreciated.
New membership payments and dates:
We will be operating future memberships via the website. By paying in September 2026, the membership fee of £40 will be discounted from the 2027 conference. Until the pay facility is added to the website, members are asked to pay by BACS transfer.
Future conferences:
Because of the reduced numbers of delegates and the effect this has on financial viability, we have had discussions on the future of an annual conference. I see the ESTA conference as the flagship event, but understand the need for a review of the timing and selection of locations. This will be opened up for discussion during the AGM.
Thanks:
Since I was voted in last year to take over as Chair last year I have been continually grateful to Angela. She has steered me in the right direction and held my hand through some progressive actions, especially since I have been out adventuring for most of the time. I must also give special thanks to Sydney, without whom I would never know what was going on and appear even more incompetent when it comes to IT.
Next year is our 60th anniversary! Plymouth will be a great place to celebrate our “four carbon atom tetrahedron” anniversary, but don’t expect one in your goodie bag.
Dave Turner
