Fieldwork Foundations

Fieldwork is motivating for children, fun to facilitate, a key part of the Geography Programme of Study, valued by OFSTED and offering children real-world experience. But where do you start? This course has been devised to support teachers with starting out on this journey and complements the ‘Ideas for Primary Geography Fieldwork’ course that is offered on 12.3.24: we plan for no overlap between the two. ​ This Fieldwork Foundations course focuses on ​ i) signposting you to all of the key information that you will need to help you plan your own, appropriate fieldwork for children in your school and ​ ii) generating your own fieldwork ideas that work well for your particular set of circumstances, whereas the Ideas for Primary Geography Fieldwork course is a practical, hands-on session where we share mountains of ideas that you will need to develop to suit your own setting.

Here is some feedback from recent courses:

– Subject Leads Network Meeting (Learning Partnership) May 2023

“Brilliant as always! Thank you Nell ????”

“Many thanks Nell – loved the book and the ideas that came from it!”

“Thank you again Nell, the part on assessment was really useful as I’m looking at this for our action plan at the moment!”

“Will definitely be joining you again Nell, thank you.”

– Embedding Fieldwork (Geographical Association) May 2023

“A really insightful course that was also engaging. The simple mapping was a lightbulb moment, as I know, as a staff, we’ve found it hard to create simple maps meaningfully in our provision.”

“I really enjoyed the course. I liked how we got to go out and try things out straight away. I loved the range of activities.”

“Thank you for an inspiring course! I’ve got lots of ideas to take back to staff and help with delivering a staff meeting too.”

“Thank you Nell so such for a helpful and hands-on course. I loved exploring the fieldwork strategies and will implement all 4 we covered. I am excited about thinking how I can fit these into our existing curriculum. I found the enquiry questions really challenging but want to begin to develop this as a school.”

– Leading Primary Geography – Subject Leadership (Learning Partnership) May 2023

“I enjoy the sessions as they’re laid back and inclusive for all levels of subject leadership. I feel that I have a good grasp of the 3 main aims from the start and I’m looking forward to setting up a proper folder! I have a clearer idea of my roles and responsibilities and I will look at the areas I have to develop and see what I can start doing. Thank you.”

“I’m going away with extra knowledge about leading Geography. Following today I will make an effort to talk to colleagues about their Geographical links. I have enjoyed the session and have lots to share. Thank you.”

“As always, a supportive session. I always feel the breakout task is of benefit as it gives us chance to share ideas and hear the views of others. Looking forward to talking with staff and using some of the resources about auditing.”

– Creative approaches to teaching geography (London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham) March 2023

“I’m feeling enthusiastic about teaching geography now – I’ve been given new tools, ideas and resources.”

“Enjoyed the session today; really useful activity ideas and fieldwork. Critical Thinking info was fab. Thankyou x”

“I’m excited about developing our curriculum, introducing more fieldwork/map skills and critical thinking activities.”

“Lots of fabulous ideas: I’m definitely going to use/share a number of these back at school.”

“Feeling passionate and more confident to move froward with Geography. Great ideas and presentation from Nell: very engaging. Useful activities and resources to take away.”

– Leading Primary Geography – Geographical Skills (Learning Partnership) March 2023

“I’m going away more confident and enthusiastic to plan fieldwork, including map making. I will also be able to feed back at a staff meeting to other members of staff. Many thanks.”

“I’ve learnt a lot; I’m new to geography leading so I didn’t know what to expect. I like the ideas for activities and I’m looking forward to doing the fieldwork audit. I feel much more enthusiastic about fieldwork.”

“There was lots of information and practical activities to use with my own class and to share with colleagues. Some useful knowledge for an amateur Geography lead. Thank you.”

“Thank you for today. I’m looking forward to sharing ideas from today with the rest of the staff team. Great ideas for fieldwork and mapping resources.”

Nell Seal is a Secondary Geography trained teacher who has worked in Primary environmental and outdoor learning for 20 years in both the charitable and the public sector. Nell is now a freelance consultant specialising in facilitating CPD training in the areas of learning for sustainability, outdoor learning and primary Geography. Nell is also a Forest School Practitioner and undertakes consultancy work focused upon quality assurance systems for the Forest School Association.