GlosGeog, Gloucestershire’s local Geographical Association (GA) branch, felt that it should act as a role model and lead the way with a fieldwork activity to mark #NationalFestivalofFieldwork during the month of June. The following opportunity was offered FREE to schools, whether they were Geographical Association (GA)/GlosGeog members or not and located in and beyond Gloucestershire, to promote inclusivity and accessibility within geography. Today saw 11 schools and over 450 Key Stage 2 pupils and their teachers join us from all over England for an action-packed couple of hours. Interest has been such that another event is scheduled for Thursday 10th July 2025, of which there are still a few school spaces left.
Following a formal welcome, introductions and outlining housekeeping/protocols, I handed over to Daniel Raven-Ellison, Guerilla Geographer, Founder and CEO of Slow Ways, Founder of National Park Cities and a National Geographic Explorer, as well as a former secondary school teacher for many years.
Firstly, Dan emphasised that we are all explorers, with the power to use geography to help us gain a greater understanding of places and our lives, as well as improve them. He reinforced that exploration is all about asking questions and searching for answers.
To set the scene, Dan showed a brief clip from ‘The UK in 100 seconds‘ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0drvdLYGNuc) and mentioned that he would later be projecting his new film, ‘Earth in 100 seconds‘. He explained how satellites are used to observe land from space and shared some stunning NASA images of Earth’s landforms to show how cameras can reveal patterns and details we might otherwise miss.
Such data can be amalgamated to create a land use map. However, it can be difficult for our brains to grasp just how much of Earth’s surface is used in different ways when it is spread across a complex map. Dan provided a quick explanation of what percentages mean, then introduced his idea of showing land use visually through 100-metre and 100-second walks, where each metre (or second) represents 1% of Earth’s land use. The team behind his latest film was introduced, including the drone that was employed to help capture this concept.
He then invited the audience to guess how much land is utilised for different purposes. Teachers gathered figures from the children and added them to the chat feed. There were some very interesting guesses!
Next, Dan played his new short film, ‘Earth in 100 seconds‘, proudly announcing that the voiceover was done by his 21 year old son (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MshXmxjEQnc).
Afterwards, he revealed the answers to the earlier questions that he had posed to his audience; in some instances, we were a long way off! Dan then led an open discussion, drawing on aspects shown in the film and asking the children what surprised them the most.
It was now time to ‘take learning beyond the classroom‘. Dan challenged the children to a fieldwork ‘mission’ that they had to complete over the next 30 to 45 minutes. Teachers had been briefed about this in a preliminary discussion meeting last week, so were well prepared with worksheets and maps at the ready. The youngsters had to imagine that they were pigeons, flying over their local area. They had to go out and explore, identifying at least one place where they thought that there should be a change to the land use, think about what they would like it to be changed to and consider why this should be the case. At the site of proposed change, pupils were challenged to annotate a local OS map generated using Digimap for Schools (DfS) (https://digimapforschools.edina.ac.uk/) and fill in a worksheet.
On their return, we zoomed into each classroom and asked one or two representatives to communicate their findings to the wider audience. It was clear that this activity had opened their eyes to what was around them. There were several very impressive field sketches too.
Dan then set pupils a follow-up task (see below), which we hope will also promote future activism and advocacy in school.
The morning concluded with us gathering pupil and staff voice via the chat feed. Both youngsters and teachers were asked to sum up today’s session in five words or a sentence or two, plus identify what went well (WWW) and even better if (EBI). A collection of their responses can be seen below:
Pupil voice
Sum up today’s session in five words or a sentence or two:
Fun; interesting; surprising; fascinating; great! (St. Joseph’s Catholic Primary School)
Exciting; interesting; adventure; fun; environment. (Horfield C of E Primary School)
Informative; fun; interesting; inspiring; surprising. (Down Ampney C of E Primary School)
Fun; exciting; joyful; engaging; surprising; educational. (Andoversford Primary School)
It’s been very, very fun and interesting. It’s been good to get outside and we thought it was very well-explained. (Highnam C of E Primary Academy)
Fun; informative; interesting; helpful; eye-opening. (St. Mark’s C of E Junior School)
Fun; interesting; surprising; insightful; informative. (Highnam C of E Primary Academy)
Fascinating; mind-blowing; exciting; pigeon fun! (Highnam C of E Primary Academy)
What went well (WWW):
Doing the fieldwork; learning new facts; making us explore our outside area; working as a team. (Highnam C of E Primary Academy)
The drone footage was amazing! (Down Ampney C of E Primary School)
Even better if (EBI):
An example of the sketch you’d like and maybe a filled out sheet. (Highnam C of E Primary Academy)
We would like to see more birds. (Horfield C of E Primary School)
More exploring; longer. (Highnam C of E Primary Academy)
Staff voice
Thank you for organising this today. (Radipole Primary School)
Thank you. Great session. (Hatherop C of E Primary School)
Thank you so much for an excellent morning. (Highnam C of E Primary Academy)
Thank you. It was inspiring! (Horfield C of E Primary School)
Thank you for an excellent session. (Andoversford Primary School)
Thanks very much. Great fun! (Highnam C of E Primary Academy)
Thank you so much for a wonderful session. … The children really enjoyed thinking like a pigeon; with the bonus that we have a nesting pigeon outside the classroom as an extra hook! It was a really unique idea – thank you! (St. Joseph’s Catholic Primary School) https://www.facebook.com/StJoescatholicprimaryschoolnympsfield
Thank you for today, the children really enjoyed it. It would have been helpful to have seen an example of a worksheet already completed so the SEND children had something to see before completing the activity. It was really good to get the children out of the classroom and looking around from a different perspective. (St. Mark’s C of E Junior School)
Thanks for organising today- the children really enjoyed it. Summing up within five words/sentence or two – inclusive; engaging; thought-provoking and well-prepared. WWW – The children were really engaged trying to guess the % of land use and also enjoyed getting outside of the classroom to work. EBI – The timings could have been adjusted to start a bit earlier – majority of schools have inflexible lunchtimes at 12 pm, which is why we had to leave just before the end. (Hatherop C of E Primary School)
It was a really fun and exciting opportunity. The workshop was really well put together and it was an interesting way to look at geography fieldwork. If we could change one thing, it would be more time to complete the outdoor activity as it generated lots of interesting ideas and conversation, but we had to cut that short and come back inside for the follow up zoom. (Powells C of E Primary School)
Thank you for organising the event yesterday – the children had a great time. (Radipole Primary School)
All in all, an enjoyable and reflective morning, it seems. Moreover, we managed to escape the showers!
Well done to all those involved. We look forward to receiving photographs of the children in action and their follow-up work in the next day or so. The best ones will be selected to appear in an article that both Dan and I have been asked to write for the Geographical Association (GA)’s Primary Geography journal.
Contributions from pupils at St. Mark’s C of E Junior School:
