Head of Geography, Mr Steven Cale, is heading off for new adventures at Concord College International School, Malaysia at the end of term. So, with changes ahead in this ‘small in size’ but ‘big in success’ department, we took the opportunity to meet with Mr Cale and also Miss Cunliffe, who is celebrating 10 years at Concord, to hear some of their favourite Geography memories and their plans for the future.

Miss Cunliffe

Q) How did you come to be a teacher?

In my last year reading Geography at Cambridge I had a final interview with my supervisor about future careers. I mentioned that I was thinking about teaching. Before I could discuss any other ideas, he had phoned the Head of Education (his best friend) and he announced that I was enrolled on a PGCE course before I had even left the room!

Q) Have you always been a teacher since then?

I started teaching as soon as I qualified but have enjoyed a couple of fantastic career breaks. One was 3 years travelling the world, which I funded by making jewellery and teaching English. The second was a year in Wanaka in New Zealand where I gained my pilots licence. It was a great place to learn to fly, the views are incredible there.

Q) What brought you to Concord?

My last role was Head of Geography at Hills Road Sixth Form in Cambridge. The academic standard was high, like at Concord, but the class sizes were bigger with around 150 students in each year group studying Geography.

While there, I had a long weekend break in Ludlow and loved it, so decided to relocate to Shropshire. When the job at Concord came up, I applied and the rest is history. I should say that although the class sizes are smaller, I have never worked so hard as I have at Concord!

Q) What are your favourite Geography topics?

Geography ‘steals’ from so many other subjects like biology, history and politics. Each topic is interactive and interdependent, holistically explaining what is happening in the world. Everything is relevant. If forced to choose one topic, I would pick physical geography which covers things like the Earth’s features, processes and ecosystems.

Q) Can you share some of your favourite memories from Geography trips?

I’ve been at Concord for 10 years so far and we always have amazing residential trips. Destinations have changed over the years and now Form 5 students go to Criccieth in Wales and we take the 6.1s to the Lake District.

Alumni might remember trips to Preston Montford and Cheshire. Perhaps they will have memories of going to Honister Mine or Aira Force waterfall where we were measuring weathering, river management, mass movement and even rural depopulation. These trips are not just about academics, students have fun too and it is great to see them becoming children again.

We are mindful that some of our younger students may only have experienced big cities so walking on a moor in north Wales can be completely out of their comfort zone. Some groups cope better than others, but often it’s the quieter students who are the most stoic and burst out laughing when confronted with rain and other outdoor challenges.

There have been foreign trips too. One of my top memories is sleeping under the stars in a Moroccan desert and getting up before dawn to catch the Saharan sunrise. I have funny memories of camel rides too; every student seemed to have their own method for controlling them and staying in the saddle.

I should also mention trips to the Grand Canyon, trekking in the Atlas Mountains, summiting Mount Kenya and even navigating the souks (markets) of Marrakech.

At the end of the day, all our trips are about ‘awe and wonder’ and allowing people to shine when confronted with unfamiliar surroundings.

Q) Apart from teaching Geography, can you share other special memories with us?

I have enjoyed being a Form Tutor, getting to know the students away from lessons and hearing about their backgrounds and countries has been an absolute privilege.

Q) Looking to the future, and beyond your time at Concord, what are your plans ahead?

I hope to carry on teaching at Concord for the foreseeable future, but I have enrolled on a Diploma in Silver Smithing course for a year. After that, perhaps I might sell my own jewellery at craft fairs as I love meeting people. It would also be nice to have more time to sing in a choir too.

Mr Cale

Q) What inspired you to become to be a teacher?

After I finished my Geography degree at Bristol I wasn’t sure what career I wanted and spent some time working in hospitality in California, and the Ski Season in the Alps. I later joined a youth group and really enjoyed its energy and interaction. I realised that teaching would be a great career for me, with the added bonus that I could carry on learning more about geography along the way.

Q) What geography topic do you enjoy the most?

Like Mrs Cunliffe, I enjoy all the different topics, but as I love maps, physical geography probably comes out on top. I like teaching geomorphology which explains the impact of timescales and sequences and why the landscape looks like it does. When I cycle to College each morning I pass natural meres which are post glacial kettle holes. When I travel to new places I learn a lot about the culture there by observing the local stone in buildings and the agriculture.

Q) How did you come to be a teacher at Concord?

Although I am from Shropshire, I had not heard of Concord until I was teaching in Hong Kong! Some of my Hong Kong students told me they were going to Concord and that it was a very prestigious school. I then worked in Australia for a year and when I returned and found a teaching post here, I met those same Hong Kong students again.

Q) Please share some of your favourite field trip memories

On the wall of our Geography Common Room we have a photo collage of many of our trips, and if you look closely you’ll see that some of them are taken in the same place every year – Black Rock Sands.

Residential trips are part of student life at Concord. Some are ‘niche’ being about very specific places, others are broader giving an insight into UK life. They are a great opportunity to encounter at first hand the diverse and beautiful parts of Britain. It’s joyous to watch students taking photos and running along the beach or up hills.   

We go abroad too of course, I’ve got very happy memories of bus rides in California, San Francisco and Death Valley, star gazing in Yosemite National Park and comparing that to Las Vegas.

As our students are from a very broad background culturally, I’ve always enjoyed hearing things from their perspective and sharing their ideas with the rest of the class. Sometimes there is a big gap between what you assume they know, compared to what they actually do know!

Q) Outside of teaching, can you share any other favourite memories?

During the Covid pandemic we couldn’t travel anywhere, so in 2020 I organised a charity event at Concord called ‘Pedal4Lalibela’ to raise money for primary school education in Ethiopia. More than 200 students completed a virtual rowing and cycling challenge to ride from Concord to Lalibela Primary School. We raised £3500 for the Soil of Amhara charity.

I organised another charity event the following year called ‘Ride the Great Green Wall’ which was a virtual bike ride along the Great Green Wall from Senegal to Djibouti, about 9000km in total. Students, staff and alumni took part and we raised another £1500 to help establish a forest of native tree species in the highlands of Ethiopia.

Q) What will be your role at Concord College International Malaysia?

I’ll be Assistant Head (Boarding and Pastoral) which is a similar role to Mr Kerslake’s here in the UK. My role is to make sure that student wellbeing is at the centre of everything. I’m looking forward to a new challenge and being fully immersed in campus life. Hopefully I’ll have time to teach Geography as well.

What do alumni remember about Geography at Concord?

“The trip to Criccieth (especially the ice cream) and that time in class Joe and I enquired about purchasing one of the World Islands in Dubai (Miss Cunliffe thankfully stepped in before we made any financially irresponsible decisions).” – Barney, class of 2022

“My favourite geography memories were always the field trips. Specifically skimming stones with Mr Cale and my friends at Criccieth beach in Wales.” – Luke, class of 2020

“My favourite field trip has to be the one we took into Wales where we all found our favourite rock on the beach (pic attached!) and played card games in the evening.” – Chloe, class of 2019

“All 3 Geography Department trips I went on were great fun, but the Morocco trip was exceptionally special. The time we sent in the mountains in Imlil and the morning we spent watching the sunrise on a dune in the Sahara desert were beautiful. They also really helped to highlight the importance of tourism in the area, which helped the case studies stick through personal experiences.” - Roman, class of 2025

“I loved my time doing A level geography!!! Field trips were so so fun- I loved hiking with my friends and admiring the gorgeous Welsh landscapes. I remember us all grumbling about the wind and rain, it was so cold! But I absolutely adored it so much, it was such a welcome change from normal book studying at Concord haha. Oh my gosh the tour through the slate mines was amazing, I am missing it so much just writing it now! And hanging out in the lounge with my friends before class started was always a highlight of my day. It was really nice being in a small class (4) because I really got to bond with my classmates.” – Rochelle, class of 2025

“The USA trip! It remains one of the most memorable trips I’ve ever had. We travelled across the US – the Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Yosemite, Las Vegas, Silicon Valley – everything was so eye opening and I learned a tremendous amount. Mr Cale, Miss Cunliffe, and Dr Outram made it as amazing as it could possibly be.” – Anna, Class of 2021

“I RAVE about the Morocco trip all the time to people. Sleeping under the stars in the Sahara, hiking in the Imlil Valley, every day of that journey was crazy and amazing and I absolutely will not forget it. I'm pretty sure I have at least half a dozen photos from the trip on my posterboard right now! (EasyJet is NOT included in that. I hate EasyJet.) The Lake District trip was also pretty fun! As for the Geography Department, I just generally liked the classes a lot and the GeoSoc experiences! The House Geography competition was also amazing to host! I felt very proud about the turnout.” – Isaiah, Class of 2025

“I’m quite fond of the classroom itself, that little block that sat by itself on campus. It just felt like we were in our own little bubble.” – Chloe, Class of 2023

“I remember exploring the cave/mines during the 6.2 geology trip.” – Gareth, Class of 2024

“Unfortunately, our field trip was cancelled due to a snowstorm...” – Megan, Class of 2023

“I was on the Geography trip to the U.S. in 2019. We visited some of the most geographically iconic sites in Nevada and California, including Yosemite National Park and Death Valley. It was the first time I had travelled so far with my friends, which made the trip an especially memorable event. I brought back many souvenirs, including a small bottle of salt from Death Valley, which I still have today.” – Boning, Class of 2021

“The case study trip to Morocco is genuinely one I'll never forget. Not for the winding mountain roads on a stuffy bus where everyone was doing their very best not to pass out, nor for the world's most aggressively “fragrant” tannery (the mint leaf did not help), but for what we actually learned there; how sustainability has been woven into tourism development, and the work of organisations like Education For All.

The 6.1 trip to the Lake District was brilliant too, though in hindsight I think that was mostly a warm-up hike for what awaited us in Morocco, where Dr Hayden was, regrettably faster than I was. As mentioned to Miss Cunliffe, I'm afraid I've used up my lifetime quota of hikes. But what made it all worth it? Falling asleep under the desert stars, then waking to run up the dunes and catch the sunrise. It was beyond magical. This city girl from Singapore would not have ever imagined herself marvelling at nature's creation like that, surrounded by the sweetest classmates and most nurturing teachers.” – Samantha, Class of 2025

“Best trip was probably Betws-y-Coed in year 11. Not going to pretend I remember what we were learning about (you might want to edit that out haha!) but I had a great time.” Robbie, class of 2020