King’s Ely Junior teacher selected as Ordnance Survey GetOutside Champion

A teacher at King’s Ely Junior will be encouraging people to get more active alongside the likes of Ben Fogle and Sean Conway.

Alan Parkinson, who is Head of Geography at King’s Ely Junior, is one of only a few people from across the UK to be selected as an Ordnance Survey GetOutside Champion for 2018/19.

More than 750 people applied for the role and the chosen group have been drawn from different walks of life to represent a diverse group of age, gender and ability. They include TV presenter Ben Fogle, several Everest summiteers, walkers, Paralympic athletes, writers and endurance athletes such as Sean Conway.

Mr Parkinson said: “The GetOutside initiative is core to Ordnance Survey’s aims to help more people to get outside more often: inspiring adventures, enabling experiences and helping make memories. It’s also about making use of Ordnance Survey’s wonderful maps, whether in paper form or using the new digital maps and smartphone apps.”

Mr Parkinson, who lives in Norfolk, has been teaching at King’s Ely for five years. Before joining the school he spent 20 years teaching in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, latterly as a Head of Geography. In 2008, he joined the Geographical Association as Curriculum Leader, where he worked for three years. He has also worked with the Open University, been a freelance Geographer across Europe and has written many children's books and GCSE and A Level textbooks.

Mr Parkinson added: “The GetOutside initiative is partly a response to growing levels of obesity, including amongst children. Sedentary lifestyles affect people’s mental and physical health. Finding the time to get outside is not always easy and I will be working with a number of organisations, and within the school, to encourage more time to be spent outside.”

To find out more about the GetOutside initiative, go to www.getoutside.uk