•Why is this place like it is?

•How is this place connected to other places?

•How is this place changing?

•What does it feel like to be in this place?

Michael Storm

A lithographic print—likely from the mid-1800s—depicting the original college, now the University of Chester, at Parkgate Road. It offers an authentic contemporary glimpse into the building's Tudor-inspired facade as it would have appeared close to its inauguration.

Possible Lesson Activities:

Learning Objectives:

By the end of the lesson, pupils will be able to:

• Identify the location of the University of Chester on a map.

• Understand key geographical and historical reasons for its location.

• Explain how the university has grown and changed over time.

  
  

How to deliver:

• Show a map of Chester.

• Ask: “Where is our school? Where is the University of Chester?”

• Use Google Earth or a printed map to zoom in on the Parkgate Road campus.

• Discuss: “Why do you think the university is here?”

• Tell the story:

  • The land was donated by the Chester Cathedral.

  • It was built just outside the city walls—close to the city but with space to grow.

  • It was the first teacher training college in England.

• Show a simple timeline and old vs. new photos.

• Discuss: “Why would people want to build a school near a city but not inside it?”

• “Design Your Own University” activity:

  • Pupils choose a location on a blank map and explain why.

  • Include features like space, transport, nearby landmarks.

Football/rugby pitch

To provide sporting opportunities to Chester university students

It is connected through a campus

It has been modernised over the years to provide the best facilities possible

• discussion around what this is, and what a bridge does. Where have they seen a bridge before? - can you give any examples?

• Further discussion around what might be under the bridge.

• What is the other side of the bridge and what might be behind the camera?

  
  

  
  

Starter activity: Suitcase activity - Teacher has suitcase filled with leaves, twigs, pinecones and a toy forest animal and they pull items out indivudally and ask where items would be found. All items point towards a forest which children have to guess.

Ask children if anyone has been to a forest before? Where is the nearest forest to us?

Children asked to point out where they are located on the map and use their prior knowledge of compass directions to describe their location.

Map skills: Children look at map and teacher asks where the forest is on the map and how do we know this is a forest? Compass skills liked here as children are then asked to compare direction of the forest to their location.

What is this place like: What season is it currently and how can you tell? What might this place be used for currently?

Enquiry Question: How is this place changing?

Content:

Enquiry Skills

Fieldwork - conducting a forest sensory walk to identify features / seasonal changes

Concepts - place, space, environment (physical and human features)

Misconceptions:

• All forests look the same all year round.

• They are always dark and full of trees.

• Human activties always harm nature.

• Leaves always fall in autumn.

• The forest is 'dead' in cold seasons.

Activity ideas:

Children to think about what animals we may see in the forest.

Trees - evergreen and deciduous.

Human and physical feature survey

skills: classidying features and understanding human-enviornemnt interaction

Activity:

Children are to identify and sort features into "human" and "physical"

Discuss how people have adapted or modified the woodland - eg sustainably

Distingusing between human and physical geography features

• Explore how the canal changes through different seasons - use images, identify characteristics - How does this place change?

• Wildlife

• Uses of the canal - transport, trade, leisure - How is this place connected to other places?

• Where does it start and where does it end - connecting different places

• Pollution

Learning objectives: Pupils will be able to identify what a canal is and why they exist

Concepts/skills: locational knowledge, differentiating human and physical geography, interdependence

Misconceptions - Pupils may think it is a river

Activity ideas: Research why canals were created and compare how the use of canals have changed over time. Look at uses such as transport, trade

Background:

• An area near a woodland, made out of scrap pieces of wood. To form a safe home for different creatures living in the woodlands.

  
  

  Lesson Objectives:

  By the end of the lesson children will be able to:

• Identify the location

• Understand how bugs live in different habitats.

• Understand why the habitat has been placed/built in this specific location

  How to deliver:

• Get children to think of a bug and get them in the mindset of the bug.

• Show them this picture.

• “How would you feel as a bug living here”

• Discuss different situations bugs may be in living here. “Is it noisy?” “Is it cosy?” “Would you feel safe here as a bug?”.

• Design their own bug house in groups.