Time for some more bespoke CPD, this morning with the Geography Subject Leader at Bretherton Endowed Church of England Primary School near Leyland, Lancashire (https://www.brethertonschool.org.uk). The Head Teacher, Alison Maxham, approached me at the start of the summer holidays to see if I could deliver a couple of virtual sessions, firstly to support the Geography Subject Leader and then all staff with their continued whole school curriculum planning and development. Feeling fairly confident about their coverage, sequencing and progression, Alison suggested that the foci should be geographical skills and fieldwork.
Last week, the Geography Subject Leader sent me an overview of their whole school curriculum map for geography. The school operates on a two year cycle since they teach across two year groups and have mixed key stage classes, e.g. Reception/ Year 1; Year 2/Year 3; Year 4/Year 5 and Year 6, so not the easiest of scenarios to have to deal with! The aim of today’s session was to look at how geographical skills and fieldwork opportunities could be embedded more readily within their current curriculum. The Geography Subject Leader felt that fieldwork was more rigorous in some topics than others and that those activities taking place within the school grounds or local vicinity were planned with confidence. She wished to gain further ideas for integrating fieldwork into more distant or challenging units; this is where you have to get creative and think laterally!
We began by revisiting key documents, such as the EYFS statutory framework (especially the educational programme entitled ‘Understanding the World’ and its three Early Learning Goals [ELGs]) (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65aa5e42ed27ca001327b2c7/EYFS_statutory_framework_for_group_and_school_based_providers.pdf), Development Matters (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/64e6002a20ae890014f26cbc/DfE_Development_Matters_Report_Sep2023.pdf) and the National Curriculum geography programmes of study for key stages 1 and 2 (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7c1ecae5274a1f5cc75e97/PRIMARY_national_curriculum_-_Geography.pdf), to familiarise ourselves with their content and check coverage, sequencing and progression against their whole school curriculum map for geography. The school had previously worked with a local geography consultant and had a visit from Ofsted a year or so ago and were generally very happy with their current offering. We briefly discussed why things were studied where they were, what worked really well and what might need rethinking. Only a couple of tweaks were required and I suggested a couple of FREE modules that might be downloaded from the Royal Geographical Society (RGS-IBG)’s website as suitable replacements (https://www.rgs.org/schools/resources-for-schools). I proposed how they might avoid large gaps in the teaching of geography and we talked about the use of geography exercise books being taken through a key stage to make evidencing progression far easier.
Afterwards, we spent some time looking at how we could integrate geographical skills and fieldwork into each unit. I emphasised the importance of taking learning beyond the classroom on a regular basis to enhance automaticity and confidence. I shared numerous useful web-links and resources, which the Geography Subject Leader can now peruse. I demonstrated how you might be creative and think laterally when delving into places located farther afield. There is also the virtual to consider, of course, and I showcased several forthcoming opportunities, including multi-schools events to the Arctic and Amazon and a sustainability-themed week centred around plastic. The potential of digital/computer mapping programmes, such as Digimap for Schools (https://digimapforschools.edina.ac.uk/), Google Earth Pro (https://www.google.com/intl/en_uk/earth/about/versions/) and its historical imagery tool and Street View (https://www.google.com/streetview/), were mentioned and I intend to explore these with all staff during our next scheduled training session in Term 3.
I paused to answer any questions that the Geography Subject Leader had. However, these were few and far between as we had managed to tackle so much within the space of an hour and a half; bespoke CPD is worth its weight in gold! Her concluding comments can be viewed below:
Thank you for the meeting yesterday and all the resources you’ve provided.
A worthwhile way to start the week, I think. Plenty of food for thought and lots to discuss with SLT and colleagues over the next couple of weeks.
I look forward to working with all staff during a twilight session in late January, hopefully enthusing them to take learning beyond the classroom much more frequently, especially since the days will be lengthening and weather improving thereafter.