We’re thrilled to share that Ancestors unKnown is back at Prince Edward Primary School in Sheffield for a second year! This exciting partnership allows us to continue bringing engaging and meaningful history lessons to their students.

Last year, we had a fantastic experience working with the Prince Edward team, including the Assistant Headteacher, Rachel Hall, and History Subject Leader, Vicky Mason. Their shared priorities for the history curriculum aligned perfectly with our goals, so we launched the programme, which sparked a genuine interest with the students.

Key Priority for the School: Improve History Lessons

• Making history more meaningful: The school wanted history lessons to feel relevant and engaging for their students.
• Addressing boring lessons: They recognised that traditional UK history lessons can be dry and uninspiring, especially for students of colour.
• Re-engaging students: By focusing on personal histories and cultural diversity, they aimed to spark students’ interest in the subject.
• Celebrating diversity: The school wanted to create a learning environment that reflected the diverse backgrounds of their students.

To build upon the success of the previous year, we met with the school’s teachers to discuss what worked well and what could be improved. We learned that the students greatly benefited from the lessons about UK migration histories, finding the vocabulary, topics, and activities both engaging and relevant.

A Year 5 teacher shared some inspiring photos and student reflections from the previous year, highlighting the active participation and thoughtful discussions that took place.

Improving Programme Results

One challenge we faced last year was the concern among teachers that some students might not have much information about their family histories. To address this, we focused on empowering teachers and families to celebrate a diverse range of histories, emphasising that every story is valuable and explaining the benefits for children when we spark conversations about our unique histories.

Ancestors Project for Year 5 Students

This year, we launched with a full-day event at Prince Edward Primary. Our Founder and CEO, Dana Saxon, introduced Ancestors unKnown to the entire school! This included Black History assemblies for all students, interactive lessons with Year 5 students, and even a meeting with parents.

Since then, all Year 5 students have participated in the Ancestors unKnown project, which includes teacher-led lessons divided into two categories:

• UK migration histories: Lessons on topics like “Migration and Causation” and “Impact of Migration”
• Family history research: Lessons on topics like “Identity, History, and Questioning Techniques” and “Source Analysis and Family Research”

To kickstart the project, Dana led a lesson introducing the students to the purpose and goals of Ancestors unKnown. This involved reflecting on their own legacies, considering the people who influenced them, and creating “Identity Circles.”

Conclusion

The students were enthusiastic about completing their identity circles, sharing stories about the people who are important to them, and thinking about what they want to learn about their histories.

We’re incredibly excited to continue our partnership with Prince Edward Primary School. Their commitment to providing meaningful and engaging history education aligns perfectly with our mission at Ancestors unKnown. We can’t wait to see the amazing research projects the students will create!

As we’ve witnessed firsthand, programmes like Ancestors unKnown have the power to inspire young people to explore their own histories and appreciate the diversity of stories in their communities.

Your move for improved history lessons!

Want to learn more about our work or bring Ancestors unKnown to your community? Check out What We Offer: For Educators, where you can register to get started.