March 2025
March 26th: Another month, another set of new additions to the Carpenters Estate
Another month, another visit (or 3!) to Stratford for me, and another set of new additions to photograph and notice at the Carpenters Estate. I visited Stratford 3 times in the final week of March as two of our schools undertook their GCSE fieldwork in the Carpenters Estate and East Village. In February I shared photos of the new play areas and signage that had gone up in the estate but, one month later, there was even more to photograph as a range of wooden (and, in my opinion very nice!) signage has gone up around the estate.
It may just look like some simple signs but it really does help with the community feel on the estate and the sense of community and belonging that you get as you walk round. As ever, it was really interesting to unpack this with students and compare it to their perceptions of the East Village.
For guidance, advice and ideas on using Stratford for urban fieldwork, please look here.
March 17th: Privately owned public spaces ‘masquerading as the commons with profit in mind’
This month has seen me re-read ‘Look Here’ that I first read and reviewed in November 2022. I enjoyed it just as much second time round and this time scanned in the sections describing and discussing London’s privately owned public spaces to use as part of our fieldwork resources when we visit Battersea Power Station. Although the extract talks about Coal Drop Yard in King’s Cross, it could have easily be describing Battersea and I want to unpack the key points with students before they visit the Power Station and conduct their fieldwork. I think it will really help them to get a sense of place in the redevelopment and look at what they’re seeing with nuance and a critical lens.
The extract from the book can be downloaded here.
March 14th: What does it mean to teach excellent geography in the knowledge-rich age?
It was great to be back at the Royal Geographical Society to present as part of their Head of Department CPD day. The sessions were for new or aspiring HODs and I spoke about what it means to teach excellent geography in the knowledge-rich age. This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot in recent years: how do we maintain the subject-specific enquiry that we know sits at the heart of our discipline when the word ‘enquiry’ has fallen so out of fashion in all others areas of education? What does it mean to do geographical enquiry in a world of knowledge-rich curriculums? This is what we explored in this session and it’s a session I love delivering! If you are interested in learning more or would like to organise a similar CPD for your school or Trust, please get in touch. My next CPD session on this theme is for Copper Education and more details can be found here.
