With Term 5 coming to a close, it was time for us all to meet up again, albeit virtually for our final Primary Geography Subject Leader Network (PGSLN) meeting of this academic year. We were a small group today as several of our regulars were involved in post-SATs treats/residentials, unable to secure cover to allow them to attend in real time and so opted to watch/listen to the recording and peruse the accompanying documentation over half-term, etc. There were a couple of newbies, who were, of course, made very welcome. An in situ version of today’s meeting was held yesterday at The Pavilion in Cheltenham in conjunction with GLOSSI, Gloucestershire’s School Improvement team, and was attended by representatives from more than 30 local schools. These will cease to run next academic year as Gloucestershire County Council streamline their activities to focus on their key remits. Nevertheless, I am currently in conversation with leaders at the Gloucestershire Research School, our two Teaching School Hubs and local universities and hope to be able to provide further details about a combined package of in situ and virtual offerings in the near future. You will not be left alone; the network will continue to exist in some form or another!
After the usual formal welcome, introductions and housekeeping, I outlined the aims and format of the meeting. I began with an ‘educational round-up‘, taking the same stance as I have in previous meetings as this has worked well, ensuring a reduction in the number of slides within my overall presentation and making the content more accessible. I concentrated on items shared recently by the leading subject associations, namely the Geographical Association (GA) and the Royal Geographical Society (RGS-IBG). These included the following:
Mark Enser
Website and blog: https://teachreal.wordpress.com/2025/09/10/ofsteds-new-inspection-toolkit-clarity-or-confusion/
LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-enser-20a01673/
Substack – Teaching It Real: https://enserm.substack.com/, especially …
What kinds of questions does geography need? Questions in the Future 3 classroom: https://substack.com/home/post/p-197348908
Careers and a knowledge-rich curriculum. It’s knowing what you do and how you do it (relevant to primary too): https://enserm.substack.com/p/careers-and-a-knowledge-rich-curriculum
I do, we do, you do – or do we? When principles meet poor practice: https://enserm.substack.com/p/i-do-we-do-you-do-or-do-we
What’s the point? Creating a future-facing geography curriculum: https://enserm.substack.com/p/whats-the-point (links to his input at the Geographical Association [GA] Annual Conference and Exhibition)
Geographical Association (GA)
Geography matters (Geographical Association [GA] and Environmental Agency resources): https://geography.org.uk/resources/flood-resilience-in-schools-two-ks2-lessons/
Members’ magic (Geographical Association [GA] Teacher Education Phase Committee [TEPC] resources to support mentoring): https://mcusercontent.com/c26acee5fdcc2267c7b9d1e21/files/9c9cf953-49e1-0dcc-474e-f579c6eb59f4/Primary_ITE_webpages_resource_mapping_document_Feb_26_FINAL.pdf
Everyday geography (National Festival of Fieldwork): https://geography.org.uk/national-fieldwork/
Recommended resource (CPD pack – Climate change in your curriculum): https://portal.geography.org.uk/shop/view/P9781899086475
Geog Live!32: Developing fieldwork: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHvBaSy4KpU
Ask the GA (Interview with Nihal Arthanayake): https://mcusercontent.com/c26acee5fdcc2267c7b9d1e21/files/af147a1d-f44a-5147-7c2a-a0163ae92943/PG_SPR_2026_INTERVIEW_ARTHANAYAKE2026012714230357161.pdf
In the news: https://science.nasa.gov/moon/facts/; https://science.nasa.gov/moon/composition/ and https://www.nasa.gov/artemis-ii-multimedia/
World Bee Day: https://geography.org.uk/resources/world-bee-day/ and https://www.fao.org/world-bee-day/en
Geographical Association (GA) blog: https://ga-blog.org/ and https://ga-blog.org/subscribe-to-the-ga-blog/, especially …
Everywhere has potential for fieldwork investigations by Paula Richardson: https://geography.org.uk/blogs/everywhere-has-potential-for-fieldwork-investigations/
Closing the literacy gap in geography: writing strategies for multi-lingual learners by Fiona Sheriff and Maria Pitt (the last in a series of four posts): https://geography.org.uk/blogs/closing-the-literacy-gap-in-geography-writing-strategies-for-multi-lingual-learners/
Spring clean your fieldwork by Lucy Folan (secondary-focused, but relevant to primary too): https://geography.org.uk/blogs/spring-clean-your-fieldwork/
Empowering quiet voices with personality-inclusive geography classrooms by Richard Etienne: https://geography.org.uk/blogs/empowering-quiet-voices-with-personality-inclusive-geography-classrooms/
Bringing the UK’s shores closer to classrooms by Anthony Barlow: https://geography.org.uk/blogs/bringing-the-uks-shores-closer-to-classrooms/
GeogPod, the Geographical Association (GA) podcast: https://geography.org.uk/resources/geogpod-the-gas-podcast/, especially …
Episode #101: Tom Davies, GeoWizard – Geography games and adventures: https://rss.com/podcasts/ga-geogpod/2605612/
Episode #100: Mark Enser – The geography curriculum and supporting specialists and non-specialists teachers: https://rss.com/podcasts/ga-geogpod/2586813/
Episode #99: Chloe Searl – Planning your fieldwork trip: https://rss.com/podcasts/ga-geogpod/2506713/
Latest Primary Geography journal: https://portal.geography.org.uk/journal/index/pg
Royal Geographical Society (RGS-IBG)
School Membership: https://www.rgs.org/join-us/school-membership
CPD event (Exploring literacy through geography): https://www.rgs.org/events/upcoming-events/exploring-literacy-through-geography
CPD event (Digimap for Schools – a quick guide to data collection and tables): https://www.rgs.org/events/upcoming-events/digimap-for-schools-data-collection-tables-guide
Young Geographer of the Year competition: https://www.rgs.org/schools/competitions/young-geographer-of-the-year
Rex Walford Award: https://www.rgs.org/schools/competitions/rex-walford-award
I directed delegates towards my Substack e-newsletter, which provides a weekly/fortnightly insight into developments within the realm of education (https://substack.com/@eduemma and https://eduemma.substack.com/p/emmas-educational-round-up?r=1yj0xh). It is FREE to subscribe to at present and the feedback from those that have engaged with it has been very positive to date. I went through this week’s edition (https://eduemma.substack.com/p/emmas-educational-round-up-93b) and signposted attendees to previous ones this term (https://eduemma.substack.com/p/emmas-educational-round-up-a40; https://eduemma.substack.com/p/emmas-educational-round-up-116; https://eduemma.substack.com/p/emmas-educational-round-up-38b; https://eduemma.substack.com/p/emmas-educational-round-up-dd0). I suggested that they go through all these to view recent recommendations of websites, resources, books, podcasts, apps, TV programmes/movie clips, as well as CPD events, competitions and opportunities for pupils. Several realised what they were missing out on in-between meetings and decided to subscribe immediately!
I paused for ten minutes to allow individuals to bookmark and explore websites and resources that were most relevant to them, their cohort and school at their leisure. I tried to make sure that there was something for everyone. Delegates could also ask any questions that they had by either unmuting themselves or popping a comment into the chat feed.
The main part of the meeting was divided into two sections; key takeaways from the Geographical Association (GA) Annual Conference and Exhibition and climate change in your curriculum. Firstly, I drew delegates’ attention towards my review (https://create2inspire.co.uk/2026/04/12/time-to-be-immersed-in-all-things-geographical/) and the session downloads, which are continually being added: (https://geography.org.uk/events-cpd/ga-annual-conference-and-exhibition/past-conferences/sheffield-2026-session-downloads/). Next, I provided updates on the new National Curriculum as per Steve Brace, Chief Executive of the Geographical Association (GA) (https://geography.org.uk/the-curriculum-and-assessment-review-final-report-free-cpd-resources/), as well as touching upon a number of hot topics in turn, e.g. conceptual understanding; disciplinary knowledge; green skills/jobs/careers; GIS; fieldwork; climate change/sustainability, highlighting useful materials linked to each.
Chloe Searl had kindly given permission for me to project some of her and Jill Owens‘ slides from their session at the Geographical Association (GA) Annual Conference and Exhibition relating to field sketching, questionnaires and the National Festival of Fieldwork. At the same event, Kit Marie Rackley featured a number of resources from the National Education Nature Park website, which promote citizen science and would be relevant to a school’s climate action planning (https://www.educationnaturepark.org.uk/resources/results?key_stage=All&topic=64&duration=All&step=All). Teach Early Years also recently published an article about the National Educational Nature Park (https://www.teachearlyyears.com/enabling-environments/view/national-education-nature-park-turn-your-grey-areas-green). My Environment My Future (MEMF) has two Key Stage 2 projects that combine an independent group task with geography and careers, ideal for post-SATs (https://memf.careers). The latest edition of Primary Geography included an article on fieldwork – colour in the environment (https://geography.org.uk/resources/fieldwork-colour-in-the-environment/). In the last Geographical Association (GA) e-newsletter, I was reminded of two further resources to support fieldwork activities, namely Creative Fieldwork 2 (https://portal.geography.org.uk/shop/view/P9781899086326) and Know How Fieldwork: Complete series set (https://portal.geography.org.uk/shop/view/P9781899085997). I ran through my contribution to the Geographical Association (GA) Annual Conference and Exhibition Teach Meet and mentioned a future event that GlosGeog, Gloucestershire’s local Geographical Association (GA) branch, has initiated.
Next, I launched an open mic activity, where participants were invited to share details of any local fieldwork activities that they had recently conducted and discuss their impact. I added a couple of ideas that I had picked up from perusing the spring 2026 edition of Primary Geography linked to its theme of colourful geographies.
Following a short comfort break, we focused on climate change in your curriculum. I utilised the Geographical Association (GA) new CPD toolkit written by the wonderful Dr Paula Owens (https://portal.geography.org.uk/shop/view/P9781899086475). Within an hour, we managed to progress through majority of the slides and their embedded activities. The remaining ones were briefly referenced so that individuals understood their next steps in terms of sequencing learning, considering coherence and undertaking an audit.
The meeting concluded with a time for reflection. Participants were requested to complete a short online form, not only to provide feedback to myself, but also to consider their most valuable takeaway from the morning and aspects that they still regard as being rather challenging and would appreciate addressing in future meetings.
Some of their ‘concluding comments‘ (summing up the meeting in five words or a sentence or two) can be viewed below:
Great fieldwork and forward thinking.
Supportive for me as Coordinator.
FABULOUS session…AGAIN! Thank you!
Informative, resourceful, interesting, useful, worthwhile.
Lots of good information and ideas.
Very informative with lots of ideas to improve our geography curriculum. Some great ideas on how to incorporate climate change into the current curriculum.
Very useful and informative.
Thank you so much – brilliant as always!
Thank you for a very informative morning. Lots to take back to school.
Thank you very much for the session today!
Thank you very much, Emma! Was very useful and informative – lots to take away.
Once again, it appears to have been a worthwhile way to spend a late spring morning. I look forward to hearing about, and seeing evidence of, your endeavours between now and our next virtual Primary Geography Subject Leader Network (PGSLN) meeting in the autumn. A few options are currently being contemplated for the next academic year, with further details likely to be distributed in mid-July.
Hope Term 6 offers an enjoyable and enriching teaching and learning experience for both you and pupils.