I am Head of Geography and a children’s book author of The Hungry Hoopoe and Hector the Hoopoe’s Prized Possession. Inspired by my sightings of this punk rocker bird in the nearby university grounds. I have generated a YouTube of my voice to read along… I have generated small literacy activities to boost literacy skills using the Hector books. I present to you as a teacher of young minds some engaging resources plus on request access to the book in pdf format.

Year 8 Geographers rise to this challenge to conclude their Tectonics and Hazards Unit. This is problem solving and is lifted into a real world scenario and place context. I did build a shake table but you may have a DT department that can assist - it is totally worth the effort to bring this to life - the student work like mini engineers and love the testing phase!

A resource to support Year 10 GCSE Geographers over an extended break. To maintain momentum of their studies. This is a chunked down booklet playing on the notion of 5 a ‘week’ to make the tasks doable and accessible. There is a tendancy to loose momentum during summer vacation. This booklet engages and encourages small bites of Geography before entering Year 11. All questions are from the Specification an all are exam style questions. Its manageable.

An Enquiry to guide students to answer a hypothesis statement - ‘The biggest threat facing Antarctica are the tourists.’ How far do you agree?. The 6 Steps guide students to help reach a conclusion. Skills are emphasised per step. Students are encouraged to be creative in each step and how they present their research and findings. There is even an opportunity for a short movie trailer on this cold environment. From my experience - its been a hit resource!

This assessment is the culmination of students learning about maps and map skills - such as contours, symbols, distance, scale. Then they are ready to CREATE their own town or island and demonstrate they can use their prior learning and APPLY to their OWN town.

Students are challenged to interpret graphs and mapping diagrams that indicate crime levels, hotspots and factors that affect crime levels. Students are encouraged to make suggestions on how areas can manage crime. Students are encouraged to identify specific places and make links with infrastructure, roads, railway, housing, parks, tourism and general movement of people in their environment. This assessment encourages critical thinking and making suggestions from a scenario.

Year 8 Geographers love to investigate and spot patterns and trends! Aim - to critique different methods of plotting and presenting crime statistics This resource got them thinking from the start - looking at factors such as time of day, layers of ‘data’, clusters and potential ways to target resources. All generating discussion. The main activity is to circulate around the room to critique different methods of presenting ‘crime data or statistics.’ Students enjoy the movement, the group discussions, pointing out pros and cons of each method then suggesting ways to improve the method of presentation. Higher level thinking, lots of collaboration, lots of critical thinking!

Students love this opportunity - and often I invite other staff in to judge the final speaking and listening job application speeches! At the end of a unit of work on Coral Reefs, students apply for the Best Job in the World - to be a Caretaker on the Great Barrier Reef - a true real life job! Obviously their age is low however some license can be given with academics and passions and hobbies… The result - persuasive speeches to gain the role as Caretaker for the Great Barrier Reef. Feedback can be given from other teachers too to raise the students game and raise the bar, audience and anticipation. Lots of fun!

New academic year, new budding students - this resource helps build friendships, makes people laugh, builds communication skills.

A design, creative activity to encourage and enable students to find connections between themselves. Themes/topics are decided upon then each part of the hexagon reflects that individual student. Then once cut, they find the connections to make a jigsaw… Fun, revealing and starts conversations!