Additional Information

At St Alban’s, while we value the Rising Stars scheme as a strong foundation for our history curriculum, we believe in tailoring our teaching to ensure it is relevant and engaging for our pupils. This means making meaningful links to our local area wherever appropriate.

Not all historical topics lend themselves easily to local connections, particularly ancient or non-European studies, and we avoid forcing links that don't add value. However, many of our history units do have strong ties to Macclesfield, which we highlight through classroom activities, discussions, and sometimes trips.

We embrace significant historical events as they happen, such as the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, the King’s Coronation, and Black History Month, bringing history to life in real time. These occasions are celebrated through themed days, creative activities, assemblies, and cross-curricular learning. Pupils explore key figures, national traditions, and current events, linking past to present. We also mark Remembrance Day and local heritage events, helping children see history as relevant, dynamic, and all around them.

Victory In Europe - 80th Celebration

We marked the 80th anniversary of VE Day. Children and staff came dressed in red, white, and blue—the colours of the Union Flag— echoing the patriotic spirit of the original Victory in Europe Day in 1945, when communities across the UK came together to celebrate the end of the Second World War in Europe. Our pupils enjoyed a picnic-style lunch and spent the afternoon off-timetable, immersing themselves in the history and significance of VE Day. They took part in creative activities, decorated their classrooms, and proudly waved handmade Union Flags, inspired by images of the first national celebrations. Later, the children enjoyed a party reminiscent of the street parties held in 1945, complete with snacks, wartime music, and cheerful decorations. Some pupils even had the chance to try their hand at popular dances from the era, such as the lindy-hop and the jive, which brought great energy and enthusiasm to the day. To round off the experience, children also talked about local events happening in Macclesfield this weekend, including community gatherings and commemorative activities, many of which they hope to attend with their families to continue honouring this historic milestone.

Remembrance Day

We learned about the events of the past and why we remember this special day. The children wrote remembrance poems and created poppy art work and heard about how people remember this day in History. They then reflected on what they had to be thankful for.

British Black History Month - October

In school, the children have been be learning about a new inspirational black Briton every day. They have discussed the amazing things that these people have achieved and the challenges they have faced. The individuals we have looked at are from a variety of eras. Some were from a very long time ago, such as ex-slave Olaudah Equiano (1745) who was part of the Son's of Africa political group, and some are from modern day, such as olympian Dame Kelly Holmes. We have also studied and discussed figures such as Zadie Smith, Floella Benjamin , Sonia Boyce, Ncuti Gatwa and Dame Kelly Holmes. Children from all classes created a piece of artwork or writing to celebrate the figures they had learned about.

Below are some descriptions of the work to give a taste of what the children have experienced this month!

Reception

In Reception, we have really enjoyed reading the story ‘Coming to England’ by Floella Benjamin. This is a true story which describes what it was like to move from your home in Trinidad to England in 1960 as a 10- year-old child. We explored the differences between England and Trinidad and used maps to find out where Trinidad is in the world. We discussed the journey the family took by boat and explored the feelings of moving somewhere else in the world. We were sad to read that initially people in England were not kind to Floella and we talked about how we would welcome someone new to our school or from a different country. The children all came up with wonderful, kind ideas, from going up to them and saying hello to inviting them to their birthday party.

We also enjoyed the opportunity to find out more about the black artist Chris Ofili. Chris Ofili is known for creating artwork using natural materials, and even sometimes incorporating elephant dung into his works! The children gathered natural materials on a welly walk (thankfully no dung!) and created a beautiful piece of shared artwork

Year 3

In Year 3, we have celebrated Black History Month by creating artwork inspired by British born Nigerian, Yinka Shonibare. He produced a large piece of art called the “British Library’, which contains 6,328 books covered in fabric, with the names of people who have contributed to black history and culture. Inspired by examples of fabric, we created our own patterns which we used to cover boxes to make it look like our own library, ‘The St. Alban’s Library.’

Year 5

We have been learning about the artist Lois Mailou Jones. Lois started her career as a textile designer and often sold her bold fabric creations to department stores. However, one day somebody told her that a black person wasn’t capable of producing such beautiful designs. This prompted Lois to switch her focus from textile design to the fine arts where she could sign her name to her work and no one could doubt her ever again.

We have been inspired by Lois' work and have created some mask art work in the same style as Lois used. The children used coloured oil pastel to create the main image then coloured over it with black oil pastel, this was then scraped off to ‘age’ the picture. This technique is called sgraffito.

The King's Coronation

Friday 5^th May, we celebrated King Charles III's coronation in school. The coronation is a historic moment, and the children learned about why it is important. Having thought about ways we learn about the past, the children thought it would be important to record what life is like in 2023, for future generations. Every child in school had the opportunity to create a piece of work to go in a time capsule. The hall was then set up like a museum, so that every class go visit it and see all of the hard work the other children had created. As well as visiting the '2023 Museum', the children spent the morning having fun creating bunting, crowns and flags ready for the afternoon's celebrations. Later, in an assembly led by Miss Bailey, the children shared a selection of work going into the time capsule. To further celebrate the Coronation of King Charles, every child was excited to receive a packet of the King's Coronation Wildflower Seed Mix to plant! These are British wildflowers, perfect for British wildlife, in the colours red, white, and blue. We finished the day in true British style, with a fantastic 'street party' in the rain!