Meet the Team
We are a highly qualified team from a variety of backgrounds which has enabled us to be able to deliver a well established broad and diverse curriculum that enables students to practice a plethora of Geographical skills. We are proud of our high student uptake at GCSE which is consistently above 100 each year and the excellent exam results they achieve with us.
Meet the team:
Tom Ritchie (Subject leader) After qualifying from Bath University with an Upper Second Class Honors Degree in sport coaching, I wanted to pursue a career in teaching with a new challenge, and therefore looked to gain experience within geography. I have been teaching geography for 6 years and fell in love with the subject. My main passions include: creative learning, climate change and the development of countries.
Casey DeBanks Hirst (KS3 Lead) After graduating from the University of Sussex with a Geography BSc I spent some time working as a court clerk for HMCTS. During this time I also did a lot of travelling, which included spending time teaching English at a school in Kenya. I then decided to pursue a teaching career, and completed my PGCE at Brighton University around 5 years ago. My favourite subjects to teach are climate change and dynamic development, which teaches students the importance of looking after the planet and each other.
Fiona Carr (Subject specialist) After graduating from the University of Wales with an Agricultural Science degree, I persued a career in Market Research for 20 years, working with many top 100 companies and Government agencies. My work often involved researching, and travelling to, many different countries. I decided to retrain as teacher as I felt that I wanted to share with young people my love of learning about the world; the people who live in it, the threats it faces, and the processes which are happening on it all the time. My key interests are making learning fun and relevant to students of all abilities, and getting students out and about on fieldtrips.
Natasha Lee (Subject Specialist) After graduating from the University of Brighton with a Geography BSc I spent some time travelling and exploring the world. I then decided to pursue a teaching career. Some of my favourite topics include Global Hazards, Climate Change and Distinctive Landscapes.
Ruth Butten (Subject Specialist) I graduated from Sheffield University with BA (hons) Geography and PGCE. I have been teaching in secondary schools since 1997- with a short career break to have two children and re-train as a primary teacher! I returned to Angmering in 2006 and have been here ever since. My specialisms are urban geography and climate change and I am lucky enough to teach both of these to A level. I have lead many field trips- some of them abroad to the French Alps and to Barcelona. I love to travel, I'm looking forward to being able to return to Italy to climb Mt Etna again very soon.
Hannah Knox (Associate Head) I made the decision to be a secondary school geography teacher at 13 years old and have never regretted following my plan! After graduating from Loughborough University with a BSc in Geography, I completed my PGCE Geography at Cambridge University and, a few years later, my MA in Education from the University of Chichester. I have taught in several schools in my 20 years of teaching but I'm now in my 10th year at Angmering and enjoy it more every year. I normally teach physical geography at A level as it linked to my key interests of coastal environments and process, climate change and natural hazards.