Geography- Teaching and Learning Strategies to

achieve excellence at every level

Louisa BenziesHead of Geography St John the Baptist School

An overview of SJB

• Catholic comprehensive in Woking, Surrey• 94% A*-C in 2009 at GCSE level• Ofsted 2007- Outstanding• Geography GCSE 91% A*-C• Geography A/S 60%• Geography A2 82%

Aims of the session

• To know 10 strategies which help to make Geography at SJB successful

• To be able to adapt and apply these to your departments

1. Get the right people in your team

2. Outstanding learning and teaching

• Do your department know what outstanding teaching and learning looks like?

• Do you make this the focus for your meetings and time together?

• Competition within department to be outstanding

3. Sharing

Within department:- The vision- Resources- Lesson plans- Ideas- Problems- Student care- Jobs to do

4. Achievement

5. Innovation

Up top date resources- Haiti, Eyjafjallajokull; South Africa 2010

Have the belief and the courage to try new things

6. Accessibility

Accessible resources and accessible staff

7. Learning Environment

8. Effective Communication

• Meeting with a purpose• Positive communication• Regular emailing• Informal • We all get on and make an effort to help each

other

9.Professional Development

• Peer coaching• Peer mentoring• Observations• Learning new skills

10. A passion for what we do• Being a geek is cool!• Making the students passionate

Aims of the session

• To know 10 strategies which help to make Geography at SJB successful

• To be able to adapt and apply these to your departments