If you have had the opportunity to spend time at Loudoun Road this term, you may well have noticed that Geography at Arnold House has undergone something of a ‘brand refresh’: a new space in what was once (and is occasionally still referred to as) ‘the old office’ (with a brief cameo over the past couple of years as Tutor Room 3), and new personnel. Stepping into such expert and well-loved shoes as those of Mr Stones is a somewhat daunting yet inspiring opportunity to build an exciting future on the most concrete of foundations.

Geography as a subject is one that engages boys at Arnold House, right from their first taste in their ‘Understanding the World’ unit in the Pre-Prep,, through to Year 3 when it is first taught as a discrete subject, right up to – and hopefully beyond – the Common Entrance syllabus we follow up to Year 8. Continents, oceans, tornadoes, volcanoes, maps and flags…for many of our boys it occupies a fixed place on their list of favourite subjects. And no wonder really, for Geography is as real and relevant
as it gets; in conjunction with the other humanities subjects, it helps us understand our planet, the interactions between people and the environment, and global challenges such as climate change and globalisation. In teaching Geography at Arnold House, we aim to develop within the boys a nuanced and objective understanding of the issues that are in our news reports on a daily basis, enabling them to tell the wood from the trees when faced with the onslaught of potentially biased opinions so often presented as fact in today’s world.

The concept of citizenship is a key cornerstone of the Arnold House ethos; we ask and expect each boy to see themselves as a citizen of their form, their year, their house and, of course, the school as a whole; to understand this is to understand that each individual bears both rights and responsibilities within each of these contexts. Geography helps us expand this even further, developing the idea of global citizenship which is fundamental considering the international lives that Arnold House boys do,
and will undoubtedly continue to, lead.

The Geography curriculum is rich and varied, based not solely on the acquisition of knowledge but also on fostering key transferable skills in, for example, problem solving, data analysis, critical thinking and skills of enquiry: not only asking questions (which our boys have always excelled at!) but asking the right questions in the right way in order to really get to the heart of the matter. These skills will benefit the boys not only through their Arnold House journey but also as they move on to their
senior schools and beyond. A key way in which these skills are developed is through fieldwork; as I write I am preparing to visit the Jurassic Coast in Dorset with our Year 7 boys. This will be a chance to bring classroom learning to life and gain experience of fieldwork skills in a new environment, hopefully with some favourable autumn weather! We will be studying coastal landforms created by erosion and deposition together with coastal protection and management strategies. The value of fieldwork in consolidating knowledge acquired in the classroom and practising the skills mentioned above cannot be understated and I am keen to explore ways in which we can optimise opportunities for boys across all year groups to participate.

I couldn’t possibly write an article about Geography at Arnold House without mentioning Global Location League. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, GLL is a year-wide competition for Year 8 which combines their Global Location CE knowledge with revision of key geography vocabulary within a football-based context. The competition starts with a round-robin style league where each boy plays every other boy in his form; a win gains 3 points, a draw 1 point and a loss, 0. Once the
league stage is complete, we progress to the knock-out stages during the summer term, culminating with the grand final in which the overall winner will be crowned. We are just in the very early stages so far but already the boys’ competitive spirit is in evidence – and there have been a few unexpected results which keep everyone on their toes!

Ultimately, I will judge our job to be well done if the boys consider Geography to be a subject that they enjoy and can see the value of; that they are keen to pursue as they head off to senior schools and make GCSE and A-Level subject choices, and that they ultimately look back on as being a highlight of their academic journey.

In conclusion, I quote the great Michael Palin: “Geography explains the past, illuminates the present and prepares us for the future”. What could be more important than that?
Lizzie Jones
Head of Geography