Training and Development

The workshop series will be led by Jackie Zammit, a geography specialist who leads primary geography networks in the West Midlands and London and a consultant with the Geographical Association. Jackie has taught for the Field Studies Council, worked with teachers on development issues and was a regional coordinator for the Global Learning Programme. She is currently an Associate Practitioner with Lifeworlds Learning, supporting outdoor learning and fieldwork at two residential centres and co-producing educational resources for PositiveNegatives, an animation company. 

^{Online workshop, 4pm to 5.30pm}

Explore everything you need to know to be an effective Primary Geography Subject Lead. You will leave with practical tools and strategies to support your colleagues, audit your current curriculum, and develop it further to ensure a high-quality geography offer that meets the needs of all pupils.

We will also examine the role of key geographical concepts and consider how these can be used to structure, sequence, and strengthen your planning. By the end of the session, you will feel more confident in leading the subject, driving improvement, and shaping a curriculum that is coherent, ambitious, and engaging.

^{Online workshop, 4pm to 5.30pm}

Enhance your early geography provision by exploring how young children make sense of the places around them. Together, we’ll look at ways to investigate your locality, introduce a contrasting non-European place, and incorporate simple fieldwork approaches. Free, high-quality resources will also be shared.

^{Online workshop, 4pm to 5.30pm}

In this follow-on session we’ll investigate how pupils develop a richer sense of place through regional studies, drawing inspiration from the East Midlands and the Amazon Basin. Together, we’ll unpack progression from local to regional scale and explore ways of strengthening knowledge, enquiry, and key skills.

^{Online workshop, 4pm to 5.30pm}

Taking an issues-based approach to primary geography can help children develop critical thinking by exploring real-world problems, connecting classroom learning to their lives, and fostering a deeper understanding of complex issues. This session will have a particular focus on climate and sustainability.

^{Online workshop, 4pm to 5.30pm}

We will take a step-by-step approach to the Enquiry Cycle and share ways for enabling pupils to actively participate in all stages, from formulating questions to discussing and debating their findings. We will think about how an enquiry approach can support fieldwork, a sense of place and the exploration of issues.

^{Online workshop, 4pm to 5.30pm}

In this session we will explore the range of techniques available to us for high quality primary fieldwork. All the techniques can be used in the school grounds and local area, as well as further afield. We will also consider how technology, as well as virtual fieldwork, can help us. Progression documents will be shared.

^{Online workshop, 4pm to 5.30pm}

We will look at progression in mapwork including digital mapping. The session will focus on the opportunities for mapwork in primary schools and how to incorporate regular opportunities for children to practice and develop their mapwork skills.

^{Full day, face-to-face workshop at the Teaching School Hub, 9.30am to 3.30pm}

This in-person course gives you the opportunity to put fieldwork techniques, enquiry approaches, and mapwork skills into action. We’ll begin in the classroom by generating questions and planning our exploration of the local area. After completing the fieldwork, we’ll return to analyse and present our data, and discuss how to refine techniques to best meet the needs of your pupils.
Attendance at the previous online sessions is not required, but will help you gain even more from the day.

All workshop places can be booked via our online booking system.

The training will be led by Andrew Wrenn, a knowledgeable history specialist and an honorary fellow of the Historical Association. He is an experienced teacher, trainer and writer, former LA adviser, and author and co-author of educational materials, articles and books.

1. Using rigorous historical enquiry questions in Primary History

This practical webinar will guide teachers on how to devise, rigorous historical enquiry questions, how to spot and weed out weak ones and how to sequence them in an effective way across medium-term plans. It will show how disciplinary concepts can be revisited and  pupils supported in the careful accumulation of substantive knowledge, adding to their schema progressively over time.

2. Using Quality Texts to Strengthen Primary History Teaching

There are many high-quality core texts that can enrich the teaching of history in primary schools and strengthen its impact across the curriculum. This practical webinar will explain how to plan effectively when using these texts. It will explore the benefits they can offer, highlight common pitfalls to avoid, and show how they can be clearly and successfully linked to dedicated primary history teaching

3. Using Stories and Storytelling to Bring Primary History to Life

Stories can be a powerful way to engage pupils in history. This practical webinar explores how stories and storytelling can be used in the primary history classroom to help pupils understand and remember key historical knowledge, while also sparking curiosity and interest. The session will also show how pupils can be supported to question and evaluate stories as interpretations of the past by comparing them with the historical evidence they are based on.

4. Using the Work of Historians in the Primary History Classroom

Understanding how historians work can deepen pupils’ historical thinking. This practical webinar explores how the ideas and writing of real historians can be meaningfully used within medium-term planning for primary history. It will show how historians’ ideas can be simplified and presented in age-appropriate ways, how their methods can be reflected in classroom activities, and how pupils can explore the original evidence historians use. The session will also demonstrate how pupils can be supported to question and test historians’ conclusions as interpretations of the past.

      5. Supporting Speaking and Listening in Primary History

Speaking and listening play a crucial role in helping pupils think, read, and write like historians. This practical webinar explores how purposeful talk can support historical understanding while also developing pupils’ wider oracy skills. Participants will look at a range of strategies and classroom activities that help pupils explore complex historical ideas, express their thinking clearly, and reach well-reasoned conclusions that they can explain and justify.

     6. Developing formative writing in Primary History

Formative writing can provide valuable insight into pupils’ historical thinking. This practical webinar explores how giving pupils regular opportunities to write during history lessons can help capture their understanding at different points in the learning process. It will show how formative writing supports pupils in organising and developing their ideas, while enabling teachers to identify and address misconceptions early and effectively.

    7. Developing extended writing in Primary History

Extended writing helps pupils bring together their historical knowledge and thinking. This practical webinar explores effective ways to support and challenge pupils to write at length in primary history. It will look at how carefully structured writing frames can support the development of key disciplinary concepts, while gradually enabling pupils to reach and express independent, well-reasoned conclusions of their own.

    8. Invisible assessment in Primary History

Effective assessment in history does not need to be time-consuming or burdensome. This practical webinar explores how pupils’ understanding of key substantive concepts in primary history can be assessed formatively through everyday classroom practice. It will show how teachers can support good progress and gain meaningful insight into pupils’ learning without relying on complex or heavy assessment systems.

For further details and workshop dates, please visit our online booking system.

 

Additional KS2 Workshop

Boosting subject knowledge - The Romans and their impact on Britain

This practical webinar will provide an academic overview of the KS2 NC study unit `The Romans and their impact on Britain` boosting subject knowledge and giving teachers more confidence in their delivery. It will include an outline medium term plan for the content, including rigorous historical enquiry questions linked to disciplinary concepts, with suggested activities for immediate use in the classroom.

Please click here for further details and visit our online booking system to reserve a place.

Higher Level Teaching Assistant (HLTA) status is a recognised progression route for school support staff that can make a real difference to schools and pupils.

It provides confidence, capability, and credibility to carry out advanced roles in teaching and learning.

Details of what’s included can be found on the BPN website:

 https://www.bestpracticenet.co.uk/hlta

Applicants are asked to state whether they have been recommended to the programme and should select ‘Leicester and Leicestershire Teaching School Hub’ from the drop-down list as well as inputting the partner code ‘LLTSH’ (in order to gain a place on the Leicester cohort).

*Applicants using the 'LLTSH' code will receive a £50 discount.