Ipswich's Royal Hospital School awarded Centre of Excellence Award for Fieldwork and The Secondary Quality Mark by the Geographical Association for the second time

A school has celebrated winning two prestigious Geography awards for the second time in a row.

The Royal Hospital School, in Holbrook, near Ipswich, has been awarded the Centre of Excellence Award for Fieldwork and The Secondary Quality Mark (SQM) by the Geographical Association.

These two awards, which saw pupils collect data over a year during fieldwork and conduct rigorous tests and analyses, are designed to highlight excellent courses.

Reviewers praised an innovative use of QR codes in one of its displays and its studying of recent events, such as the Beijing Winter Olympics and the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.

They also noted other events at the school, such as an Alton Water workshop and an open morning on plastic pollution, helped keep students interested.

Constructive pupil feedback is also used to create a positive atmosphere.

The SQM lasts for three years and was last given to RHS in 2019.

As part of the application for the SQM, schools put themselves forward for a particular field, with RHS selecting fieldwork, for which it also won the Excellence Award.

Only one-in-10 schools are awarded the Excellence Award each year, the school said.

The award means that the school's Geography course is both engaging and up-to-date, the association added.

RHS's head of geography, Harriet Izod-Miller, said the efforts of the team being recognised was a huge honour.

She noted: "As a department, we particularly enjoy embracing new approaches and topical themes into our curriculum to make it more inspiring and relevant for our young geographers.

"We are delighted to see many of our students go on to study Geography not only at A Level but also at university and beyond.