Today saw me head over to the University of Gloucestershire’s Francis Close Hall Campus in Cheltenham for a geography GIS day. GlosGeog, Gloucestershire’s local Geographical Association (GA) branch, had supported this event through sourcing input for two of the workshops and promotion. Whilst GlosGeog had been keen to organise a day earlier in the academic year, this was not feasible …
Time to be immersed in all things geographical!
Last week, I headed up north for the Geographical Association (GA) Annual Conference and Exhibition held at Sheffield College City Campus from 8th to 10th April 2026. The current GA President, Catherine Owen, had selected the theme, ‘Geography makes a difference‘. What a jam-packed and invigorating three days it was! Not only did I manage to catch up with many …
GlosGeog’s first event of the academic year 2025-2026
Our first GlosGeog (Gloucestershire’s local Geographical Association branch) event for the academic year 2025-2026 was kindly hosted by the Teaching School Hub at Balcarras School near Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. All places were filled a week or so prior to the event; 20 plus primary and secondary teachers came together from schools within Gloucestershire and neighbouring counties, alongside myself and the two …
Time for another Primary Geography Subject Leader Network (PGSLN) meeting!
A busy couple of weeks ahead for me, engaging with over 60 schools, either virtually or in situ, as part of the first round of Primary Geography Subject Leader Network (PGSLN) meetings this academic year. Due to Sandra Parker’s growing commitments at GLOSSI (Gloucestershire’s School Improvement Service), the baton for oversight of primary geography has now been handed to the …
Dr Rebecca Kitchen visits GlosGeog!
GlosGeog, Gloucestershire’s local Geographical Association (GA) branch, was fortunate to receive a visit from Dr Rebecca Kitchen, Head of Professional Development at the Geographical Association (GA), this afternoon. The event, aimed at secondary teachers, ECTs and trainees, was kindly hosted by Odyssey Teaching School Hub based at Pate’s Grammar School in Cheltenham. After formally welcoming and introducing everybody, I handed …
Virtual Primary Geography Subject Leader Network (PGSLN) meeting (3)
Thursday morning saw our final virtual Primary Geography Subject Leader Network (PGSLN) meeting of this academic year, which had a focus on quality assurance (QA). Presenting alongside myself was Mark Enser, former National Lead for Geography for Ofsted as well as an HMI and now offering independent support to schools. We were joined by representatives from over 30 schools across …
A new week-long initiative
Hover over the images to reveal captions. Click on the images to enlarge them. It was a slightly different approach to our workshops this week. Instead of the usual one day, virtual multi-schools event, we decided to trial spreading the content over the course of a week to enable youngsters and teachers to fully engage with the material, have more …
History’s turn now!
This week has been devoted to bespoke CPD. Today, it was a session with the History Subject Leaders at Oliver Tomkins C of E VA Schools near Swindon, Wiltshire (https://www.olivertomkinsschools.co.uk/swindon/primary/olivertomkins). Prior to this morning’s virtual session, there had been a brief conversation and number of e-mails sent between myself, the Headteacher and History Subject Leaders to share documentation and establish ‘where they were at’. This …
A spot of bespoke CPD (geography)
This week has been devoted to bespoke CPD. Today, it was a session with the Geography Subject Leader at Oliver Tomkins C of E VA Schools near Swindon, Wiltshire (https://www.olivertomkinsschools.co.uk/swindon/primary/olivertomkins). Prior to this morning’s virtual session, there had been a brief conversation and number of e-mails sent between myself, the Headteacher and Geography Subject Leader to share documentation and establish …
Virtual Primary Geography Subject Leader Network (PGSLN) meeting (2)
It seemed quite a while since our last meeting (October 2024); just the way terms and holidays have fallen. However, we finally managed to get together once again for the second virtual Primary Geography Subject Leader Network (PGSLN) meeting of this academic year. On board this morning were representatives from over 35 schools across England, some familiar faces alongside a few …