Case Study 2

As a primary geography specialist, I am thrilled to have access to Oddizzi. I have used the resource widely across KS1 and KS2 within my own setting, for teaching and for supporting teachers in their planning and delivery of outstanding geography lessons. I have also used it as a tool when delivering inset across our alliance schools and for Geographical Association courses, which I have facilitated.

We have subscribed to Oddizzi for numerous years now. It continues to amaze me how fluid the resource is and how quickly it moves on to address the changes in education. For example, the recently added Guided Reading resources are excellent: quick to access and relevant to teachers and pupils. They also reflect the demands made in the new Curriculum in terms of grammar, punctuation and spelling. Staff in our school all report that these resources truly enhance outcomes in pupil performance.

The content has been adapted to reflect the changes in National Curriculum geography. The team at Oddizzi have worked hard to support teachers in this by offering innovative topic planning and supporting resources. The fact that these can be downloaded and used offline means that teachers can ensure that all pupils have access to them. The recent addition of the assessment grids further enhances the end-of-topic assessments and has been warmly welcomed, as there are very few resources available for teachers when assessing geography. The grids are easy to use; they clearly show strengths and areas for development to support teachers in their subsequent planning.

I find Oddizzi an invaluable resource, as the content complements key messages from the Primary National Curriculum. I have studied the content of Oddizzi in depth and have cross-referenced the content to the objectives of the new Curriculum. Oddizzi offers a user-friendly resource to pupils and teachers, with the content pitched at a level appropriate enough to challenge, engage and, more importantly, enthuse pupils about geography. The quizzes have a very immediate and obvious impact on the children’s understanding and knowledge. They are linked to all of the content across Oddizzi, with a leader-board motivating children to improve their score. As a teacher, I can see the impact by monitoring the leader-board and rewarding the children with the Umbuzo certificates which are available to download.

As a keen geographer, I used to dread wading through dated resources to come up with ways to portray the world in a true manner. However, Oddizzi has changed that for me. Oddizzi’s content is presented in a number of ways, from a number of sources, and using it in school has helped teachers to foster a love and understanding of geography. Children need to develop a level understanding of the world. They need to know about diversity across the globe and about how and why places are changing. This resource is one I would not be without. We continue to reinvest in the resource each year because each pupil can use it at home and all teachers can access it at home or school. It fully supports our geography curriculum and hugely enhances other curriculum areas, such as English, Art and Maths. In addition, it addresses agendas such as SMSC. All of these factors demonstrate why we think it is a cost-effective resource for our school.

The addition of ClassPals is one which the pupils value. They enjoy talking with peers from other places far and wide. They like to ask questions about places and ClassPals provides a safe platform from which they can exercise these skills. It’s also a great resource for provoking children to think about their own locality and how they can showcase it to people who have not visited it before. I have found that using ClassPals often encourages pupils to see things in their local areas which they haven’t previously noticed.