Chris Trevor - Primary Education Consultant

ABOUT

 

 

Chris Trevor is a Geography graduate with a passion for History and teaching children in fun, creative ways linking to all areas of the curriculum. Chris started to deliver courses on History and Geography on behalf of the Cheshire Curriculum Team in 2007 and became the full time Humanities and Cross curricular Adviser for Cheshire in 2008. She was also the Strategic Lead for One to One tuition for Cheshire West and Chester 2010-2011. She is still regularly commissioned to lead training on Assessment at the End of KS1 on behalf Of Cheshire West and Chester and has been one of their team of Moderators for Maths.

In 2010, Chris formed her own education consultancy based near Northwich in Cheshire. In 2013, her husband, Dave became an active partner in the business, providing admin and website support, and adding to the range of services and training on offer. Dave has worked in archaeology, trained to teach 11-18 Geography and History, has taught KS3/4 ICT since 1986, and was Head of Media at Cheshire’s first Media Arts specialist school during 2005-09, concentrating particularly on multimedia-based learning. He is thus well-placed to support the prehistory elements of the new National Curriculum. Together, Chris and Dave now offer prehistory workshops that introduce children to practical aspects of prehistory and archaeology in their own schools, thus saving teachers the time, paperwork and cost of arranging external visits. This most recent addition to the package of sessions is 10,000 Years BC – a KS2 workshop about the early Stone Age. They bring artefacts to the classroom for a hands-on enquiry approach, and for part of the session, Dave dresses as a Paleolithic hunter, with authentic deerskin garments and replica spears. Further details, and the positive feedback received from teachers during the trial runs of 10,000 Years BC can be found at www.10000yearsbc.co.uk

The business continues to expand over a much wider area. Chris regularly leads courses and training across Cheshire and on behalf of Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council. She has worked with students at Edge Hill and Winchester Universities and the University of Roehampton. She is into her second year of leading training on behalf of Schools Direct at a number of schools. She has worked with schools in Nottinghamshire, Manchester, Staffordshire and a number of London schools. In 2014 she led a 3 day Inset at an International School in Italy. Being a Geographer she loves to travel!

Chris also works on behalf of Osiris Education and has spoken at their conferences and led training all over England. She also advised in the making of a series of BBC animations for Primary on World War One.

She has supported over 70 schools across the UK with inspirational but realistic, practical methods to plan and deliver a creative approach to the new National Curriculum, ensuring coverage of knowledge and skills, with rigorous progression and challenge. She believes in helping schools design their own unique version of the National Curriculum which closely matches the specific setting of the school. Chris shares inspirational but realistic, practical methods to support the development of a creative curriculum, whilst still ensuring coverage in the knowledge and skills. She can support the planning process and she provides effective assessment strategies, for either the end of a key stage or as continuous assessment for learning across a range of subjects in the whole curriculum.She has developed a simple but effective method of assessment without levels in History and Geography.

Chris presents inspiring, practical courses and bespoke Primary school staff meetings or INSET on developing creative, cross-curricular approaches. She practises a creative, cross-curricular approach to learning, making meaningful links between the skills and knowledge of Humanities with other subjects, especially writing across the curriculum in English and Creative Maths. She has years of experience of working in these ways as a class teacher, across all year groups from Year 1 to Year 6. Chris was a school subject leader/coordinator of History and Geography for many years, combining this role with leading Maths or English in schools. She retains a good understanding of the realities, pressures and issues in everyday school life. Her highly-rated, popular, interactive courses, staff meetings and INSETs will provide teachers with confidence to implement exciting ideas and activities in their classroom the following day!

Suggestion are offered for starting points for thematic or enquiry-based studies, using stories, artefacts, museum visits and the local environment of the school. She is happy to discuss unique, bespoke training, listening to what Headteachers and teachers require and provides specific training and resources. The most commonly used words in feedback are “inspirational, practical, engaging and friendly”. Victoria Carr, Headteacher at Elton Primary School said: “Rarely have I had the privilege to work with such a knowledgeable, dynamic, creative and supportive professional! Working with Chris for a single day enabled my staff to pull together our ideas and focus on our key school drivers before preparing a creative curriculum sure to capture the imagination of staff and pupils alike. We will certainly be working with Chris again and would not hesitate to recommend her as a humanities enthusiast with a wealth of knowledge and ideas of how to support staff to deliver and more importantly inspire.”

Many of her activities incorporate free or low cost resources, and course costs are kept to a minimum, by using schools or museums as the venue, thus ensuring continuity of Continuous Professional Development during a time of increasing budgetary pressure on schools. This also has the added advantage of delegates having the extra opportunity to benefit from a tour of the school to recognise good practice and see how museums can support their work back in their own classrooms. Chris is a strong advocate of a personalised, child centred, localised curriculum which maximises the opportunities for learning outside the classroom. Chris was delighted to be asked to produce a Local Geography and History Educational Pack for the primary schools of Ellesmere Port in 2013 and then for a group of Northwich Schools in 2014 . She feels very strongly that children’s learning in the Humanities should always start from their own home area, so naturally Chris was keen to produce a local learning pack to support teachers bringing the local Geography and History alive for the children. She thoroughly enjoyed researching the rich history of the two areas and sharing her ideas in these two educational packs. She is keen to repeat this for other areas and show how to implement the new National Curriculum requiements and teach engaging activities to develop the necessary skills in the children's own local area.

Chris firmly believes that lessons should be fun, and she will share methods of engaging children in a variety of ways and thinking of more creative ways to display their work. One of the popular school-based staff taining sessions has been on Creative Presentation, which will provide exciting interactive methods for children to display their work. Chris also presents this as a full day course at Alexander Paper Supplies, at the Dagfields Craft Centre, near Nantwich. This courses also presents the opportunities for delegates to explore the factory shop and explore the possibilities of incorporating the materials into children's work. This is a veritable Aladdin's Cave of beautiful papers which can be made into bespoke books. Alexander Paper Supplies offer a wide range of craft materials - visit their website for further details.

She is the Honorary Humanities Educational Consultant for the ERA Group in Cheshire - the Educational Resources Association comprised of Museums, Archives and Libraries who can support children's learning outside the classroom. Chris keeps up to date with the latest developments in education and is an active member of the national Early Years and Primary Phase Committee and the Worldwise Committee for the Geographical Association, which is an excellent organistation to support Geography education across the country. She has been asked to lead two sessions at their international Conference in Manchester 10-11th April 2015.

Chris is always happy to discuss unique, bespoke training and is proud of the very friendly, approachable service she provides. She listens to what educational establishments, Headteachers and teachers require and will provide specific training and resources. A range of courses and school based sessions are available, ranging from practical, skills-based approaches to building knowledge in History or Geography to developing a creative curriculum - see the home page for further details.

 


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