Sophie Collingham

About

Sophie is an alumnus of Hills Road, who graduated in June 2023. She studied Sociology, History (Crisis, Conflict and Communism) and Geography during her time at College. She is now on a gap year where she is traveling around Sri Lanka.

Sophie has her worked published in Routes - the Journal for Student Geographers!

Congratulations to Sophie Collingham, a former student at Hills Road, for having her work published in Routes – the Journal for Student Geographers.

Routes is a peer-reviewed digital journal for sixth form and undergraduate geographers looking to read and publish their work on a wide range of geographical topics.

Sophie wrote her essay on place attachment, which was titled: “An anywhere or a somewhere? A consideration of the role of storytelling and family folklore in the formation of place attachment”.

Her work builds on “connection to place via an engagement with David Goodhart’s (2017) thesis concerning ‘anywheres’ and ‘somewheres’.”

Well done, Sophie, this is a huge achievement! We’re so proud of all the hard work that you’ve done to have your work published. We wish you all the best in the future!

We are incredibly proud of Sophie's commitment to planning, researching, writing, and editing her article for Routes Journal over the course of many months during her time at Hills Road. Sophie's article investigates place attachment, a key concept within the 'Changing Places' unit in the A-level Geography course, and a concept which Sophie also explored in great depth in her Geography NEA. The insightful article for Routes Journal for Student Geographers demonstrates strong research skills and is exceptionally well written, reflecting Sophie's clear understanding of Geography - which she is hoping to study at Cambridge University after her current gap year. Well done Sophie!
Kevin Dobson, Head of Earth Sciences

I was very pleased to have my article published. I got into the project after my Geography teacher suggested that I might enjoy writing for Routes and helped me to come up with ideas, plan and write it. Having my work critiqued by academics and responding to their feedback helped me to develop my ideas. In my article, I explored how my sense of place attachment questions a politicised discourse of belonging. At the moment I am taking a gap year and have so far traveled to Sri Lanka, where I volunteered to teach English to young monks and children from local schools. In the coming months, I hope to travel to South America before studying Geography at university.
Sophie Collingham