Primary Geography Conference, 25th September 2008

As always the half day conference led by David Weatherly was a morning well spent. I always come away with resources and ideas that can be used or adapted easily for our curriculum.

Today David was quite excited about the Primary Curriculum Review which is due at the end of October. He suggests that there will be broader areas of learning experiences; there will be less in new programmes of Study. We will be encouraged to spend longer doing less and there will be greater inter subject connections. This is certainly good news and will involve better quality teaching and learning opportunities.

David always refers back to what we are looking to achieve when we teach geography – referring to it as a table with four legs and a table top.

1. Where / How do the children progress and what opportunities do we offer the children to ensure that they are able to exhibit level 2, 3 4 or even level 5 capabilities? What opportunities are there for the children to reach conclusions, to reason and explain, to use simple or appropriate advanced vocabulary?
2. Geography should be an enquiry, experiential, investigative, independent personalised learning. What do we do to find out where the children are now? What do we do to move them on to where we want them to be in terms of the learning activity? How do we help make sense of geographical Enquiry processes?
3. There are really very few PoS and there will be even less in the new curriculum.
4. The Primary National Strategy encourages us to be imaginative and creative ensuring that we are robust i.e. the children are being appropriately challenged intellectually.
On top of all this we have the topic / theme / issue / dimension.
If there is no BIG idea then don’t teach it!

Higher order thinking skills will be a key focus in the new National curriculum.

The buzz words (for interviews) then at the moment are metacognition, robust curriculum and appropriate expectations.

We then looked at the theme of RIVERS. The big idea being ‘Through erosion and deposition, river water changes the landscape’.
The unit hangs around a series of key questions which are

1. What is a river?
2. What happens along the course of a river?
3. Where do rivers get their water?
4. How does a river change from source to mouth?
5. Where do rivers start and how do they change the landscape?
6. Why does water suddenly fall along a river?
7. Why do rivers bend?
8. What happens at the mouth of a river?
9. Is this the most famous meander in the world?
10. How and why does the River Otter and its valley change from source to mouth?
11. How can we help infant children to learn about rivers?

Throughout the unit there are a range of activities to engage the children – many of which involve observing, discussing, describing, comparing, contrasting, reasoning, estimating, explaining, describing patterns, processes, links and relationships, suggesting explanations and conclusions. There are connections to many other curriculum areas.

In terms of attainment it was interesting to note that all agreed that attainment does not have to be replicable – it is a snap shot at that moment in time!

In December, Devon Education Services are planning a day conference which will focus on the current curriculum review emphasis on the importance of a strong flexible learning programme. The day is themed ‘Creative and coherent cross-curricular planning in the primary curriculum: the weather and our world’. I hope that I will be able to attend.

Geography Primary Focus Day - 11th March 2008

Reason for attending: Although we do not currently study this Unit, in looking how to improve the cuurent Geography Scheme of Work at Woodford, I felt this might offer ideas for improving those units which we already study.

The focus for the day was based on Unit 13: A contrasting locality in the UK, focussing on Lochinver rather than Llandudno (with strong environmental, sustainability, Literacy, Numeracy and ICT strands). This unit is a good way to address environmental issues.
As always the day provided us with a fully resourced Scheme of Work based around a tiny village of Lochinver on the Scottish West Coast.—photos / activities / ideas—all in hard and soft copy.



In the recent review of KS3 there has been a swing to “integrated topics” - however the appropriate expectations have disappeared. These need to be addressed in individual subjects – e.g. what are the key skills that are subject specific?

This could be the next challenge facing the Primary Curriculum. However, it is important to remember that the level descriptors / expectations should be the spine of the approach.

By the end of KS1 most children would be at Level 2. By the end of KS2 most children will be at Level 4 with some aspects of level 5. It is important in planning a scheme of work to incorporate levels (P)1—4 (even 5).

What’s the point of Geography?
At its heart—it is the study of the physical and human environment and how the two are linked / related. It is not assessment driven but led by intellectual development. Geography should be a range of enquiry based activities—a broad diet of differentiation by activity—a range of learning activities. Think! — where are the children now? What do I want them to do to move on? —How am I going to help them to move forward?

Remember Enquiry based activities are where the children do not know the outcome—they are challenged to come up with answers. Higher order thinking skills are therefore inherent in geography.

The Excellence and Enjoyment document allow us to be creative, imaginative, - intellectually robust whilst maintaining the expectations. This Unit certainly fufills this criteria.

From the Geography Programmes of Study the areas the children should study are:

Key Stage 1
Local Area (referring to the immediate area of the school)
Contrasting local area (UK and abroad)

Key Stage 2
Rivers /or Coasts
Environmental issue
Settlement
Contrasting UK locality (larger area)
Contrasting locality in a less economically developed country.

These were the Key Questions and activities for this unit on Lochinver but they could easily be adapted to any locality study:-

1. What is the site and location of Lochinver?

A great speaking and listening activity to start any study of a place is to consider its site and situation. I’d never really considered these as different before now but this became clear. (not being a geographer by first choice) Situation is where the place is in relation to its complete surroundings. For example Plymouth is in the South West of England in the south of Devon. It is on the coast. It is linked by the A38 to Exeter. It is south of Dartmoor. Site is the original reason for its location. Ask the question why was Plymouth located here? Using maps and photographs of any area is a good way into a study of that locality (especially if it is not easily accessible)
2. What things can you see from the grounds of Lochinver school?
4. Why is Highland Stoneware in Lochinver an example of a manufacturing industry?
5. Is the fishing of langoustine at Lochinver sustainable?
6. Why does Lochinver have such a large number of services?
7. Where do people stay when they visit Lochinver on holiday?
8. Why do people come to Lochinver on holiday?
9. What happens at a fish farm and is it a good thing?
10. How does the environment around Lochinver Primary School compare with the environment around our school?
11. What do I like about living where I do and what would make it better?
12. How and why is the environment at Little Assynt changing?

This unit contains a sustainability issue about the fishing of langoustines which are flown to Spain. It allows a cross curricular link in using Numeracy to work out the ‘carbon footprint’ of this industry comparing it to average household carbon footprints. This can then link to a climate change issue which allows us to personalise the issue of climate change. Using a picture (in this case) of Elhaji cleaning shoes in Banjul and a photograph of a Lochinver fisherman and asking how the two are linked.

Another environmental issue / science link is the life cycle of salmon which are farmed in the bay. The study also looks at how the area is being changed and looks at the recolonisation of pine martens to their native habitat. This provides great links with Science / habitats and adaptations.

In considering the Geography at Woodford Junior School and reviewing the curricular map—we currently cover 5 units of geography, where we need only to cover four.

In Year 3 is a study of Chembakoli (Contrasting locality on a less economically developed country)
In Year 4 there is a study of Climate Change (Environmental Issue)
In Year 5 is a study of Totnes (Settlement) and Rivers
In Year 6 a study of World Heritage and Coasts.

The Rivers unit in year 5 is being developed to include a study of rivers in Gambia to develop the Global Dimension of the curriculum. The World heritage and coasts Unit also allows for study a contrasting locality in a less economically developed country.
The Units on Climate Change and World Heritage and Coasts are new units and have been resourced through previous geography focus days. They are therefore enquiry based units of work. They also include a global dimension and have allowed the development of cross curricular work. A deeper study of the other units need to be made to ensure that these units also allow the children to develop a range of skills at all levels of expectations, as well offering activities which will encourage the development of good geographers.

Geography Conference 25th September 2007

Course Focus:
Focusing on the curriculum development and issues of continuity, progression and assessment in geography as well as key management issues relating to the monitoring and evaluation of subject provision throughout the school.

Reasons for Attending:
In considering how to improve and develop a more creative curriculum in Geography these courses always offer great ideas and resources.

Tutor – David Weatherly DES

A point to note with regard to Geography is that there is likely to be a curriculum view within the next 18 months.

All too often studying a contrasting locality is studied as a singular unit in one year but ….. what if we teach it across the Key Stage(s)? i.e., a drip feed year on year. There is no reason why it would not be successful providing we are ‘robust’ and clear in the expectations for each year group.


1. Whatever our children do in geography, we must ensure that we have the appropriate expectations.
2. Enquiry based learning in every activity; where the children are not aware of the outcome. This could be a very short activity or a longer research project. Enquiry Learning allows the freedom to think, discuss and explore.
3. Programmes of Study. At present there are only 5 prescribed topics in Geography.
a. Rivers / Coasts
b. Contrasting Locality -Overseas
c. Contrasting Locality –UK
d. Local are of the School
e. Environmental Issue
Excellence and Enjoyment: be creative and imaginative, exciting new and innovative– just be robust in expectations. Don’t necessarily rely on QCA!

Remember there is a place for learning facts (consider different learning styles – sometimes children just want to be told the answer). Also we should not be locked into recorded evidence in books – consider other ways of presenting evidence. When presenting image to the children we must ensure that they get these images / concepts correct from an early age as these things ‘stick’.

It is Possible to take a study of the Gambia and use different elements of the study across the Key Stages 1 and 2.

In the Foundation Years it is simple enough to study photographs of children and their families in Gambia. “What do I like doing with my family and friends?” Find matching photos of children / families doing similar activities here in UK. Discuss the similarities. So much of contrasting localities is often about the differences, yet for younger children we should be focusing on the similarities. All children, no matter where in the world, have the same needs – family, food, water, play and education.

In Key Stage 1 (early key Stage 2) we might pick up work on the Gambia by focusing on a key question such as “Where do Gambians get their water?” This could be part of an exploration of water as an environmental issue / climate change / drought / sustainability. This could be cross matched with key questions from the Mountain Unit presented by David at the focus day in June.

In the upper key stage 2 a topic on sustainability / Recycling / Environmental issue on waste could include work on recycling in the Gambia – e.g cooking pots which are made from recycled aluminium. In the Gambia recycling is an economic necessity. Consider what happens to clothes which are taken to charity organisations – are we really doing the right thing?

Another environmental issue to explore at the upper end of Key Stage 2 is the issue of the building of an Oil Storage facility near a village in the Gambia. Consider the pros and cons. Give the children the information, the opinions and let them debate the issue.

For level 5 provision there should be opportunities where the children can weigh up the advantages / disadvantages and then reach a judgement that they can articulate. Making links and connections.

Fully resourced for Foundation / KS1 / Ks2—great resources from David yet again!

NB Global Action Plan – based at County hall will conduct energy and waste audits in schools.

Follow up actions:
· Meet with Julie Downs (Infant Coordinator for geography) and consider ways in which we can implement geography across the key Stage
· Look at the current curriculum and consider ways of implementing a drip feed of a contrasting locality through topics which are already covered in the Key Stage