Medium Term Plan for ‘The London Plan’ Project
QCDA Coverage:
Geography with links to
Citizenship and English
Term: Spring
Year Group: 5/6
Expectations & Overall Aim:
Most Children Will:
begin to account for their own views about the local environment; recognise that other people may have reasons for
thinking differently; identify how people affect the environment and recognise ways people try to manage it for the better
Some children will not have made so much progress and will: undertake simple tasks relating to maps, diagrams and secondary sources;
state a range of views held by people about the issue
Some children will have progressed further and will: recognise and describe how people can improve or damage the school environment; come
to a reasoned, personal view about what should happen; begin to understand that there are common issues with potentially common solutions
About ‘The London Plan’ Project
London has undergone rapid change many times in its history. Over the last 2000 years, it has created an outstanding cultural,
social, economic, environmental and built heritage. The Mayor of London is responsible for producing a planning strategy for the
Greater London area that aspires to build on the stature of London as one of the world’s great cities. The 2009 London Plan has 6
main objectives:
Objective 1: To accommodate London’s growth within its boundaries without encroaching on open spaces
Objective 2: To make London a better city for people to live in
Objective 3: To make London a more prosperous city with strong and diverse economic growth
Objective 4: To promote social inclusion and tackle deprivation and discrimination
Objective 5: To improve London’s accessibility
Objective 6: To make London a more attractive, well-designed and green city
The London Plan deals with looking at issues and concerns at a local
level and investigating if these are common to London. Having
explored possible solutions to these issues pupils will look at the
impact they will have on local people and the environment.
The key questions are:
• What are the issues in the local community that cause problems?
• Where is/are the issue/s focused?
• How can we find out more about this issue?
• What are the groups involved in the issue/s and what are their
views?
• How could we solve the identified issue/s?
How can the pupil’s influence the shape of the future London Plan?
The unit offers links with speaking and listening, citizenship and
environmental education and will be driven by the use of a wide
variety of multi-media sources.
Geographical
enquiry and
skills
Ask geographical questions
Analyse evidence and draw
conclusions
Explain the views of different
people
Use maps and plans
Use ICT to help
Practise decision making skills
The London Plan is based on 7 areas of focus:
 Living in London
 Working in London
 Enjoying London
 Designs on London
 Transport in London
 Climate change and London’s metabolism
 The blue ribbon network
The main strand of the project is to encourage pupils to
enter ideas and proposals into the Greater London
Authority’s ‘Design for London’ competition
Places
Patterns and
processes
Environmental
change and
sustainable
development
Identify how and why places
change and how they may
change in the future
Explain that places are similar to
and different from other places
Locality in the UK
Recognise and explain Patterns
Recognise and explain some
human processes
Vocabulary used
Recognise how people can
improve the environment or
damage it
Recognise how decisions about
places and environments affect
the future quality of people’s lives
Main Resources
In this project, children could make use of some of the following
terms:

land use, patterns, transport, industry, services, facilities, settlement, location,
housing, residents, conflicts, crowded, site, suburb, office, surroundings, pollution,
environment, sustain, conservation, protection, development, opinion, viewpoint,
demolish, derelict, wildlife, attractive, character, damage, fumes, landscape
vegetation, pedestrianisation, habitats, scenery, advantage, benefit, improvement,
proposal, litter



Interactive LGfL Sustainability map
Template for uploaded local information
Cambridge University Press ‘i learn’ Speaking and Listening
resource accessed through LGfL at
http://cms.lgfl.net/web/lgfl/english/ks2
Session
Learning
Objectives
To identify
and describe the
local ‘issues’
facing the
community

1
Possible Teaching Activities & Resources




To explore
how the
pressures of
these issues are
felt by the
community

2




Discuss with the children how an issue is expressed, e.g. complaints to
newspapers, local protests, meetings, people’s own experience
Identify the problems/issues found in the local area that cause people to be
upset or concerned. Group activities can be developed from the Cambridge
University Press ‘i learn’ Speaking and Listening Debate and Discussion
resources page 48 Dialogic Talk and http://cms.lgfl.net/web/lgfl/english/ks2.
Simple group talk activities can be found at
http://www.lgfl.net/lgfl/accounts/projects/radwaste/homepage/cts/
Specific screens from i learn include:
 Dialogic talk screen 4 – sequenced questions
 dialogic talk - reflection – screen 5.
These resources can be used to encourage the pupils to develop the language
of persuasion which can then be structured in a written form.
Ask the children to create an information leaflet designed to be delivered to the
houses in the area highlighting the issue. Encourage them to focus on key points
that summarise the issue and suggest some action around improving the
situation. The online resource at http://www.j2e.com/ can be used to develop a
simple page layout with graphics.
Reflect back on the issues discussed previously and look at sample leaflets
Use mind maps to extend the analysis of the problem looking at ‘impacts’, ‘who it
affects’, ‘how is the area affected’ and ‘possible improvements’. Guidance and
templates for mind maps can be found at http://www.lgfl.net/lgfl/sections/steljes/
Using the ‘i learn’ screen 1-7 from the Persuasive Argument section on page 33
and this link Making a persuasive argument work through how the language of
persuasion is developed
Develop the discussion around possible action or inaction to the issue but from
differing points of view e.g. NIMBY’s, environmentalists and commuters.
Perhaps work towards a 1 minute presentation stating a point of view. This can
be supported further by making use of the ‘i learn’ materials from Persuasive
Argument page 34 and this link What makes a good persuasive speech? . Use
screen 5 and 6 if time is tight.
Note: a local visit could be arranged to observe an issue first hand. Pupils could take
digital photos or make sketches to illustrate the issue. If this is done between lesson 1
and 2 organise a class discussion on the results, ideas and evidence to build up a
picture on one specific problem/issue. The evidence gathered on the visit will enable
effective mapping of data in session 3.
Learning Outcomes





understand and can
summarise the issue
identify how change affects
different groups in different
ways
extract key points about
the issue being studied
draw a map with specific
features (school, street)
using photographs and
sketches if available
understand how human
and physical features and
the opinions of different
groups in the area affect
the issue/problem
To
investigate if
these issues are
shared across
similar and
different areas of
London

3
NOTE: access to an ICT suite is needed for this learning session. Teachers will need to
ensure that they are familiar with the precise data required for the uploading of
information.
 In the previous 2 lessons ideas had been gathered regarding the range of
‘issues’ faced in the local area. Brainstorm these again and record on the board
 Introduce the activity by getting the class to match the ‘heads’ and ‘tails’ of the
statements below
 Having matched the statements then ask pupils to categorize each of the issues
into the heading it best fits e.g. traffic lights causing long queues would be in the
‘transport’ category.
 Once the class has agreed on one of the 5 themes bring up the detail from
column 3 from the guide table. The class must agree through debate and
discussion which of the 3 characteristics of the issue is most dominant and
needs to be entered onto a London wide ‘issue’ map.

To
develop some
simple solutions
to the local issues
and to see if
these could work
across London

4
&
5

The process of reaching an agreement in these sorts of discussions can be
supported by the ‘i learn’ resources on Debate and Discussion on page 47 and by
using the screens on this link How to express opinions and deal with opposing
views.
 Use the LGfL ‘London Plan’ interactive map www.????? to review the school
based entry and to explore patterns across London. These could include other
areas that have entered similar data as the class. Any differences between Inner
and Outer London could be investigated
 Having narrowed the range of the issues down to a single idea the class now
consider how they see the issue being solved for the long term. Consider what
would need to happen for that solution to be put in place.
 Prompts such as Solution Focussed approaches could be used e.g. ‘imagine
going to the location of the issue when you wake up in the morning and all the
difficulties have gone. What would it look like and how would it have happened?
 Set up the groups developing their solution to the problem into a radio broadcast
using the scripted broadcast resources on the ‘i learn’ Speaking and listening
materials on page 25 and this link Developing scripted broadcasts
 The final aim of the two sessions should be to develop a fully produced scripted
broadcast. The ‘i learn’ materials could be used to work though with the class
the process of building the scripted broadcast. IT resources could be used
including the LGfL Audio Network materials found at http://audio.lgfl.org.uk/ .
These include downloadable news bulletin clips.
If time allows Multimodal presentations could be developed using the ‘i learn’
Speaking and listening materials on page 53 and at this link
How to develop a multimodal presentation


Develop an understanding
of the commonality of
London’s problems.
Interpret a map of a large
area with a range of data.



To develop actions to
address problems that can
be applied in a range of
areas
Identify the framework for
an entry into the
competition ‘Design for
London’