Using the school locality for geography fieldwork in Key Stages 1 and 2
Opportunities for local geography and fieldwork within the National Curriculum
The National Curriculum programmes of study require schools to undertake local studies
in geography.
In Key Stage 1, there is a requirement for pupils to study ‘the locality of the school’ and,
in their study of localities to:
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study at a local scale
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carry out fieldwork investigations outside the classroom
In Key Stage 2, there is no requirement to undertake a study of the local area as a
single topic. In the requirements for the study of localities and themes, it is written
that ‘pupils should undertake studies at a local, regional and national scale’ This
means building opportunities for pupils, where they occur, to build in case studies of
a local element in:
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Water and its effects on landscapes and people, including the physical features
of rivers or coasts and the processes of erosion of deposition that effect them.
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How settlements differ and change, including why they differ in size and
character, and an issue arising from changes in land-use
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An environmental issue caused by change in an environment and the attempts to
manage the environment sustainably.
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QCA units of work offer a number of opportunities for schools to meet these
requirements. For example:
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Unit 1(KS1) - Around Our School; The Local Area
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Unit 2 (KS1) - How can we make our local area safer?
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Unit 6 (KS2) - Investigating our local area (focus on settlement and the
environment)
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Unit 12 (KS2) - Should the high street be closed to traffic?
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Unit 20 (KS2) - Local Traffic: An Environmental Issue
Organising Fieldwork
Two key elements of successful fieldwork are:
- to integrate the fieldwork activities within the unit of work and
- to set the fieldwork activities within a clear context for the pupils
To achieve both of these elements there needs to be three clear stages for a successful
fieldwork activity:
- preparatory work
- the fieldwork exercises
- follow-up work within the classroom
Issues to consider
Preparatory Work/ Activities
- Have the necessary risk assessments been undertaken in preparing for the
fieldwork exercises?
- Has the fieldwork route been pre-visited and the planned activities considered?
- What prior knowledge, skills and understanding will the pupils need to develop in
order to undertake the fieldwork exercises successfully?
- What specific activities will help pupils to prepare for the fieldwork exercises? Do
these activities give the pupils sufficient knowledge and understanding for the
fieldwork exercises?
Fieldwork Exercises
- What specific skills, knowledge and understanding will pupils develop through the
fieldwork activities?
- What specific activities will the pupils need to undertake?
- How will the pupils need to be organized? What adult supervision will be
needed?
- How will the pupils record their findings? What equipment and resources will they
need?
Follow-Up Work
- How will pupils present their findings?
- How will pupils build on the fieldwork activities?
- What additional resources will be needed – maps/ data
- What opportunities are there for extended writing/ group work and discussion?
- What extension activities might be developed from the fieldwork exercises?
Simulation/ role-play/ class debates and discussion
Primary Geography: Features to look for in defining the local area of the school
 Landscape Features
Hills, valleys, cliffs, mountains, woods, showing evidence of erosion or deposition by
water wind or ice
 Water Features
Stream, pond or lake, river, estuary, coastal area
 Physical Features
Slopes, soils, rocks
 Climate work sites
For weather survey, micro climate work (usually school grounds)
 Local Issues
By-pass, road-widening scheme, out-of-town shopping development, new housing
estate, new reservoir, rubbish tip site, local improvement scheme
 Buildings
House, cottage, rows of houses, housing estate, groups, rows of buildings with different
functions
 Transport
Safe place for traffic survey, bus station, by-pass, railway station, airport
 Industry
Farm, business, small manufacturing unit, warehouse, factory
 Shops
Single shop, parade of shops, supermarket, hypermarket, shopping mall
 Leisure Facilities
Library, museum, park, swimming pool, leisure centre, golf course
 Settlements
House, hamlet, village, town, city, including suburbs
 Services
Fire, police, ambulance, hospital, doctor, dentist, refuse collection, recycling plant
Using the Local Area of a School - Suggested Activities
Key Stage 1
1. School Buildings and Grounds
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sensory walks around the school grounds - draw/ record findings
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identify likes/ dislike of school environment
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‘Rosie’s Walk’ - sequencing events on a route/ journey, using symbols to represent
locations
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Big Arrow Trails - following and giving accurate verbal directions using ‘bog arrows’
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String Trail - to introduce ‘plan view’. A string trail with 4 stopping points marked with red
symbols for stops. Masking tape marking area to be rubbed. Route discussed and
rubbings sequenced on return to classroom.
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Follow simple maps round the school grounds - add features
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Find features on a map of the school grounds
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Discuss with children their favourite place seen on the walk and ask them to write about
it, explaining what makes it a ‘nice’ or ‘nasty’ place
2. Buildings in the area
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Walk the children around the local area to identify the main features and changes that are
occurring.
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Children could take digital photographs of different types of building/ house within the
immediate locality of the school
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The class could make a map of a route walked with photographs correctly placed along
the route
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Children undertake a ‘tally’ count of different types of houses and homes in the area
around the school, entering the data into a simple database and producing simple charts
and graphs - terraced houses; semi-detached houses; detached houses; bungalows;
town houses; flats; sheltered accommodation
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Children make a ‘tally’ count of different types of building, and their purpose, in the local
high street
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Discuss with the children the jobs that might exist in the local area.
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Visit a local place of work eg a shop or office. Find out the number of people working
there and the type of jobs carried out
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Use local photographs, maps and newspaper adverts to find out about local leiasure
activities. Plot these on a base map.
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Children plan their own walk of the area around the school, identifying the features and
buildings they want to see included
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Ask the children to identify a route around the area that visitors could follow to give them
a good idea of what the place is like
3. Local shops and shopping
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A walk to the local shops to familiarise children with the types and kinds of shop close to
the school
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Allow each child/ group of children to draw or take a photograph of one of the shops
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Discuss the function of different kinds of shop - what can you buy there? Where does the
shop keeper get their goods from? How do goods get to the shops? How are the goods
made How does the shop keeper attract customers?
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Discuss the environment around the shops. Do the children like it - why/ why not? How
would they improve it? Where is the nearest litter bin? Is there more litter outside any
particular shop? If so, why?
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Develop a classroom corner/ role-play area as one of the local shops
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Make a wall frieze/ model of a shop/ parade of shops
4. Environmental Activities
- Ask the children to use different words/ pictures to show what they think of the quality of the
local environment
- Ask the children to complete a simple questionnaire to rate the quality of the features and
to present the findings in a suitable way, eg chart, graph, poster or similar.
- Ask the children to sketch or photograph a range of attractive and unattractive places and
locate these on a large-scale map.
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Visit to the local street: children make observations of what is there and why, and draw
maps of the street marking in the features they have seen
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Street Furniture: What is there in the street? Why is it there?
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Who is involved in maintaining the street? Children find out by writing to the different
providers - gas, water, BT
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Changing the street: Children consider how they would change the street to make it a
safer, more attractive environment to deal with litter, noise, air pollution or to improve
access to public transport, etc….
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Undertake a simple traffic survey in the immediate area of the school. Ask the children to
think about their own road near home - is it quieter, noisier or busier than the road
outside school? Encourage the children to think up their own questions about the traffic
around school.
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Carry out traffic surveys at different times of the day to see when it is busiest and to see
how parking is controlled. Identify ways of making the area safer - signs, traffic calming,
parking restrictions
5. The Local Park
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Plan a walk to the local park with the children. What would they expect to see there? Who
uses the park? Who is the park for?
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What signs do children see in the park - No cycling, No litter
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Discuss the environment in the park. Do the children like it - why/ why not? How would
they improve it? Where is the nearest litter bin? Is there more litter in any particular part
of the park? If so, why? How could the park be made safer?
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Take photographs of different aspects of the park for a class display/ to create a park
areas in school/ for children to explain which is their favourite part of the park, and why?
Key Stage 2
1. School Building and Grounds
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Some visitors are coming to visit the area in which you live, which includes a tour around
the school building and grounds. Plan a tour of the school, which includes a map/ plan of
the school and the main geographical features you would see, with a key.
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Take digital photographs of the main features of the school and plot them on to a map to
show the route round the school, using coordinates to show where these key features are
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Design routes around the school for other pupils to follow, using geographical
coordinates to identify where key features are.
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Undertake environmental surveys of the school grounds - litter, noise, likes/ dislikes,
areas for improvement
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Use the school grounds to undertake weather surveys, including wind direction, where
the sun shines (north, south, west), recording rainfall - is it the same on all sides of the
school.
2. Land-use
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Survey the use of land in the immediate locality of the school e.g. local high street,
walking distance area, using the following classifications:

Residential: houses, flats, hotels, hostels

Retail: food, clothing, footwear, sports, toys, furniture, etc….

Professional/ Commercial: solicitors, banks, building societies, company offices
etc….

Industrial and Storage: machine tools, engineering, factories, warehouses

Entertainment/ Leisure: theatres and cinemas, public houses, restaurants,
cafes

Public Authorities: local government offices, police, libraries, hospitals,
churches, chapels, schools

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Other: vacant property, car parking, open spaces, development sites
Compare the land-use in the area chosen with old maps and photographs of the same
area to examine how the land-use has changed over time. Investigate why the land-use
has changed
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Undertake a survey of buildings and materials
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Investigate what jobs people do within and beyond the school, in the local area. Sort
them into categories and investigate where and how far people travel to work
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Compare shops in the local area with the nearest or high street with Manchester City
Centre or the nearest out of town shopping centre
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Interview/ question people who use the shops about the services/ types of shop provided/
shopping habits
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Investigate why the high street/ shopping centre/ town centre is a busy place?
3. Environmental Activities
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Undertake a traffic survey of the local main road - tally counting, types of vehicle
observed, comparing the traffic flow at different times of the day, parking problems,
varying needs of different high street users - shopkeepers, children, senior citizens,
businesses
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Collate the data collected and record it using data handling software to produce graphs
and charts of the results - how is traffic controlled? What are the main problems?
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Undertake a street/ noise survey of the local road/ high street
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Undertake a general survey of the local road/ high street:

Do the pupils like/ dislike the road/ street

A comparison with another busier/ quieter street/ road

Which street/ road do the pupils prefer? What changes/ improvements would they make
to either environment?
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With the children’s help, design and carry out a survey of the views of people in the high
street to find out what they think are the benefits/ drawbacks of closing the high street to
traffic. Use local maps to find other routes traffic might take.
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Undertake a survey to see what different views and feelings people have got about the
effects of environmental change on themselves and others.
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Carry out a role-play where pupils look at the issue of traffic in the high street from
different viewpoints, making presentations to represent different points of view. This could
lead to a class debate for the best way to improve traffic in the high street/ road.
A school locality pack for geography - KS1 and KS2
 Identification of the main aspects of the locality to be studied - allocated to
year groups in the long- and medium- term plans
 Activity ideas for each aspect of the locality to be studied - related to the
target year group (teacher pages)
 A video/ DVD of the school building, grounds and surrounding area
 Photographs, including digital, of the school building, grounds and
surrounding area - ‘packs’ e.g. a land-use ‘pack’, a ‘shops’ pack, a houses
and homes ‘pack’
 Aerial photographs showing features of the school’s local area
 Old photos of the local area showing changes in land-use, change over time
(including aerial photos)
 Plans/ maps of the school building and grounds
 O.S. maps and plans of the local area - different scales for different year
groups
 O.S. maps of the local area at different times e.g. 1970, 1930, 1900
 Maps/ plans of cross-sections of parts of the local area (for more detailed
work)
 Census data for local streets and houses
 Names/ addresses of local people who are willing to talk to pupils/ offer
information about the local area
 Visitors/ tourist information about key features of the area
 Newspaper articles/ information about the area/ local issues, etc.
Useful Web-based Resources
General Websites
www.manchester.gov.uk/libraries - Central Library website (there are also links to
archives and local studies on www.manchester.gov.uk
www.manchester2002-uk.com - Encyclopaedia of Greater Manchester, including
statistics and geography of Manchester
www.manchester.gov.uk/planning’heritage/conservation - lists of all the conservation
areas and listed building status in Manchester
www.manchesteronline.co.uk - Manchester Evening News on line
www.visitmanchester.com - official tourism website for Greater Manchester
Photographs
www.freefoto.com - photographs of geographical features, including Manchester
www.images.manchester.gov.uk - photographs of Manchester past and present
www.webaviation.co.uk - aerial photographs
Maps
www.streetmap.co.uk - modern street maps
www.google.co.uk/maps
www.earth.google.com
www.multimap.com - modern street maps
www.mapquest.co.uk