Introductions How to get your portfolio off to

Introductions How to get your portfolio off to a good start: striking images and ‘setting the tone’ for what is to come….

Intro : What is Geography like at Exminster? Global Creative Inspiring Inclusive Pupil led Cross curricular Engaging

High View Primary School Good Beginnings Never End… Primary Geography Quality Mark Silver Application 2014 By Amanda Ingram

Section One: How Effective is Geography in our school? Our vision is that new beginnings never end, we aim to inspire for life.

The school grounds offer a rich environment of a variety of places to develop learning and fun.

We also have a themed week every year which is usually based on a country. The whole school participate in this themed week which is full of visitors, food tasting and exciting activities. The photos here show last academic year’s wall displays after our Italian Week.

Tanglin Trust Junior School Gold application for GA Award 2013 -14

Mapping the school T 2 Tanglin Trust School (TTS) is a 3 -18 British school of over 2700 students in Singapore. The Junior School, for which this application is being made, is an 8 form entry school with each class containing 24 students. The school is non-selective but requires a good level of English language skills and tries to maintain about 70% British passport holders. Over the last three years the Junior School has worked with various consultants, including the Chris Quigley Organisation from the UK, to create its own bespoke curriculum which reflects both its British heritage and its global position. Through the delivery of an integrated curriculum it is intended that the coverage of Geography will follow, but not be limited by, what is outlined in the Programme of Study of the British National Curriculum, appropriate to Key Stage 2. The aim is to deliver the skills and knowledge outlined but within a global context, so for example local studies are carried out within Singapore, Peninsular Malaysia and Sarawak (East Malaysia, Borneo). The subject of Geography is only semi-autonomous as at TTS the subject is led, managed and taught as part of the broader subject of Humanities which includes History. Where possible this proposal refers to only the aspects of the curriculum which pertain to Geography, although there is obviously some crossover as at what exact point Geography becomes History is subjective. Clicking on the image above will take you to the Junior Curriculum section of the school website and clicking the same image will take you through to the Junior Humanities section.

Leadership structure T 3 L 2 The subject leader has been in post for six years , although last year he was seconded into Outdoor Education for a year. In that time he has taught in Years 3, 4, and 5. Previous to that he taught in Year 6 at TTS and so has a firm grasp of all areas of the geography curriculum from not only a leadership perspective but also a planning and teaching one. Within each year group there is a teacher who as Humanities Rep has the responsibility of ensuring that all planning is relevant and innovative as well as being placed on the agreed planning format. The team also have responsibility for maintaining standards by carrying out book scrutiny, students voice and learning walks in geography each year. Regular communications are maintained and meetings occur twice a term to discuss any themes, issues and also to take stock and ensure that continuity, progression and a shared approach are maintained. Two meetings each year are held as all day meetings where the development plan and new initiatives are discussed and CPD occurs, which is then cascaded through to other teachers. In the most recent meeting the Teacher Librarian came and discussed Information Literacy and, following her inset from Robyn Treyvaud, was able to share and garner opinion on the working version of the Referencing Guidelines for the Junior School. The team agreed to pilot this through the Year 6 term three topic on Sarawak. The team also met with the G&T leader to discuss how best to further embed critical thinking skills, following her inset with Professor Guy Claxton, across the Humanities driven topics: including the increased incorporation of De Bono’s thinking hats and Bloom’s taxonomy at the planning stage. As TTS is a 3 -18 school communication between phases is constant and continuous. Formally the vertical Heads of curriculum meet once a year to ensure that a continuous and progressive set of expectations are set and a common approach to learning knowledge and skills is in place. The school has put forward a proposal to host a FOBISIA (Federation of British International Schools In Asia) two day Humanities conference (JAW- Job Alike Workshop) next March across the Junior and Senior school, where best practice is shared and guest speakers deliver inset on key elements of the Geography and History curriculum.

Development Plan T 3 L 1 L 2 Over the last three years the Junior School’s School Improvement Plan* (SIP) has been comprised of just two key areas, one of which has been : To develop and deliver a bespoke curriculum * The SIP is partly guided by inspection reports. Each of the schools, infant, junior and senior are inspected on a three year cycle. Until last year this was through the UK Ofsted criteria but in view of the school’s overseas nature the British Schools Overseas (BSO) inspection framework is now used, with both the Junior (2013) and Senior (2014) schools gaining outstanding in every criteria. Humanities subjects have been instrumental in driving this whole school priority, as both Geography and History based topics successfully, interest, engage and inspire students of this age. The Humanities Development Plan is written on an annual basis, guided by the previous plan as well as any changes to the whole school priorities, referred to on a continuous basis and reviewed annually. It is divided in to two sections to enable it to support the whole school priorities, as found on the SIP, and any subject specific priorities. Click the box to view the TTS Junior School Humanities Development Plan 2013 -14

Department guidelines T 1 T 2 T 3 B 1 B 2 B 3 L 1 L 2 Underpinning the teaching of Key Stage Two Geography are a set of guidelines to ensure that all teaching and learning is inline with the whole school’s mission statement as well as the Junior School’s SIP. Aims • To foster a sense of identity … • To enable pupils to gain skills, knowledge, concepts and understanding… • To stimulate interest and inspire enquiry… T&L guidelines • Through developing geographical skills , pupils gain an understanding of places and environments… Objectives • To provide a rich and varied curriculum that will stimulate and interest … • To encourage in pupils a commitment to sustainable development … • To ensure teaching styles and methods vary Planning • Through the delivery of an integrated curriculum… delivering the skills within a global context. • A variety of learning styles is used in our geography lessons. Visual, audio and kinesthetic learning enhances pupils’ research and enquiry… • Medium-term plans- …allow focused learning of core skills that are relevant, interesting and enjoyable. • Pupils use a variety of data to support their learning… • Daily lesson plans: identify specific learning objectives…differentiating…progress within each skill set Headlines can be found in the table on the left, the whole document containing the full department guidelines by clicking the TTS emblem above.

The curriculum A 2 1 T 2 T 3 B 1 B 2 L 2 As the school has integrated aspects of its learning over the last three years , so there has been a need to evolve a long term planning format which displays all objectives that need to be met within a topic, rather than just a subject. The Humanities team have played an leading role in the development of this format, creating the initial spider diagrams (1) and then an expanded MTP format (2) which is now split into a an excel based planning matrix (3) that is used to ensure coverage, continuity and progression across on topic based learning within the school, as well as a working MT/STP (4) which is used to teach the lessons. The idea behind the relatively broad style of STP is to allow enough flexibility for teachers to deliver specifically to their class’ needs. (5) is an example of a joint MTP with Science 2 4 click to link to document 3 5 click to link to document

We encourage every single pupil to be an active partner in their learning, through listening, thinking, questioning and reflecting on learning. Achievements are celebrated as individuals and as a whole school. Our curriculum is designed to enhance our pupils’ creative and thinking skills, encouraging them to be independent learners and to take responsibility for their own learning and actions, developing as responsible citizens. “The curriculum is a key strength of the school and is exceptionally well planned and o all teachers. Pupils deepen their knowledge through activities that develop teamwork, and learning about the world they live in November 2013. ” Ofsted-