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. 

Subject leadership with a focus on geographical concepts

This session will explore all you need to know to be an effective Primary Geography Subject Lead. You will go away with tools to help you support your colleagues, audit your existing curriculum and develop it further to create a high quality curriculum that meets the needs of your pupils. We will also look at the role of geographical concepts and how these can be used to help organise your planning.

Fieldwork at KS1 & KS2                                                                                                                

Fieldwork is integral to Geography and can be easier to deliver than you might think. We will explore the range of techniques available to us and how children can make progress with their fieldwork skills. There will be lots of ideas to take away for use in your school grounds and local area. We will also take a look at virtual fieldwork opportunities and consider their potential within your curriculum. 

Localities and regions - making the progression

Place is a key geographical concept that threads through the curriculum. We will look at how children can progress in their understanding of place from EYFS, through KS1 and KS2. We will look at progression in terms of scale (local to regional) and depth of knowledge, enquiry and skills.  We will draw on Leicester and the surrounding area for inspiration.

Mapwork at KS1 & KS2

An activity based session exploring ideas and resources for developing mapwork in your school. We will explore map reading, map making, wayfinding and environmental awareness. We will also touch on digital mapping. Progression frameworks will be available for you to take away.

Sustainability - what are the opportunities in primary geography?

With the DfE setting a target for all education settings to have a sustainability lead and a climate action plan in place by 2025, we will explore the opportunities for primary Geography. We will look at Sustainability as a concept that can run across the curriculum. 

Teaching distant places at KS1 & KS2

We will look at how an enquiry approach can help us teach about distant places. We will think about common misconceptions, where they come from and how to address them when they arise. The session will draw on photographs and videos from different parts of the world.

 

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 core literacy texts chosen on a history theme

There are many fine core texts that can enhance primary history and magnify its curricular impact. This practical webinar will show how to plan carefully when using these texts, exploring some of the advantages this can bring while avoiding corresponding pitfalls and showing how to link them effectively to discrete primary history teaching.

3. Using stories and storytelling in the Primary History classroom

This practical webinar will explore the different ways stories and storytelling can be used in Primary History, both as an evocative way of conveying substantive knowledge for retrieval, and as a stimulus to hook pupils’ initial interest and curiosity. It will also show how pupils can be helped to test the reliability of stories as historical interpretations, by comparing them with the original evidence on which they are based.

4. Using the work of historians in the Primary History classroom

This practical webinar will show how the writing and insights of real historians can be used across medium-term plans in Primary History. It will give examples of how;

• historian`s ideas can be simplified for presentation in different ways
• how their methods can be echoed for pupils in tasking
• pupils can explore the original evidence historians use to support their conclusions,

 including how pupils can test the validity of these conclusions as historical interpretations.

5. Supporting Speaking and Listening in Primary History

This practical webinar will look at the vital role speaking and listening plays in helping pupils to think, read and write in historical ways as well as developing general oracy skills. It will explore a range of strategies and tasking that can help pupils deepen their historical understanding, gain a better grasp of complex ideas, and learn how to articulate these so that they can reach (and justify) independent conclusions of their own.

6. Developing Formative Writing in Primary History

This practical webinar will demonstrate how giving pupils opportunities to write formatively can capture their understanding at given points in a learning episode, helping them to structure their developing thinking, and supporting teachers in spotting and correcting misconceptions in good time.

7. Developing Extended Writing in Primary History

This practical webinar will consider effective ways of challenging pupils to write at length, including various forms of writing frames linked to the development of disciplinary concepts, and supporting pupils in reaching independent conclusions of their own.

8. Invisible assessment in Primary History

This practical webinar will look at how substantive concepts in Primary History can be assessed in formative ways so that pupils can make good progress and teachers are not overburdened by elaborate assessment systems.  

Please click here for details of when each workshop will be taking place and visit our online booking system to reserve a place.

 

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.