Calstock Community Primary School - Winner of the 2024 PTI Primary Impact Award
Calstock Community Primary School is located in a relatively remote and rural part of Cornwall. It works in partnership with Stoke Climsland School, within a Local Authority federation. The number of pupils with SEND is above the national average. The school welcomes children to a community of learning where they develop a culture of high expectation and aspiration but all effort and achievement, in any area, is valued.
During the last 18 months the school embarked on a journey to innovate and improve the teaching of Geography across the school and wider federation. To achieve this they initiated, delivered and field-tested a redesigned critical thinking Geography curriculum. Secondly, the Executive Headteacher organised and led two CPD events for the South West PTI hub schools, building on the learning of previous PTI sessions and developing approaches to global learning, critical thinking and fieldwork.
The curriculum designed and implemented is rooted in ambition and opportunity. The structure provides a progressive understanding of key geographical knowledge, skills and concepts, knitted together with a golden thread, stimulating and embedding, our children’s burgeoning sense of place. Subject specific staff meetings and training sessions were organised, inviting teachers to share practice, children’s work and approaches to the development of a stimulating learning environment. This work has now been shared by the Local Authority with other schools in Cornwall.
Teachers shared how they relished the opportunity to build on The PTI Primary Hub content and link it to a local area study. The simple fieldwork tips and resources shared were of great value and a range of resources were utilised to supplement this work. Connections were made to the wider global themes that children could explore in this environment, such as 'water', 'sustainability' and 'migration'. Subsequent delivery of the Geography curriculum across our federation and local schools has also utilised the learning from the CPD events. This has evidently developed the level of ambition and overall quality of children's taught Geography, the work they produce and the knowledge they acquire.