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Amazing Places

As mentioned in a previous post, the Year 7 baseline assessment has been a sucess. I've also uploaded some of the resources for our first unit - Amazing Places here. The unit's inspiration comes form the RGS scheme and ideas used from Tony, Alan and Noel.

The idea is that Year 7 get a 'taster' of geography - lightly skimming the surface of issues before revisited them later on in KS3. One issue that has been a challenge is differentiating for the lower ability classes at Priory. Although these classes love discussion, some of the more open ended tasks (the Iceland film crew briefing document for example) need a lot of scaffold. However, early work is very pleasing and Year 7 seem engaged!

I have also tried to stick to a number of key principles across the department. One is that pupils can choose how they present homework and projects. Pupils are sticking to their strong points early on and this allows them to focus on the geography rather than using a presentation technique they aren't happy with. What is more important: the geography or the presentation?

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