Sandal Castle, an unimportant castle with little place in history?
To what extent is this statement a true reflection of Sandal Castle throughout time?
Through an imaginative programme of study built around the hypothesis
‘Sandal Castle, an unimportant castle with little place in history?’
Year 7 students at a local academy grew in both confidence and skills. This case study tells
their story and we hope it will inspire teachers to use their local historic environment to
enhance teaching and learning.
Introduction
Lynne Minett from English Heritage teamed up with Wakefield Council Museums to support
the Head of History at Cathedral Academy, Wakefield, in providing an dynamic learning
experience for a Year 7 history cohort. In terms of outcomes, the project was a huge success
with some students progressing in attainment from a Level 3 to a Level 6. Many showed
increased enthusiasm for history as a result of understanding more about how their local
history fitted into the ‘Story of England’.
This project fits within English Heritage’s Corporate and Education strategies that aim to bring
history to life and increase understanding of the ‘Story of England’. ‘The story of England’ is a
concept suggesting that thousands of individual stories feed into one overarching narrative.
Through a study of Sandal Castle and the people who lived there, students were able to
investigate several periods of history:
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The Normans
The Harrying of the North
The War of the Roses
The Civil War
The impact on the local environment
Where this local castle fits into the national narrative.
Within the National Curriculum (pre September 2014) the project focused largely on the
following historical skills:
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Chronological understanding
Change and continuity
Significance
Interpretation.
A main objective of the project was to develop Personal, Learning and Thinking Skills (PTLS).
Through the project it was clear that the students also developed a range of generic skills
including:
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Communication
Teamwork
Literacy
Numeracy
Presentation
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 Planning
They also learned how to guide their own learning within a carefully constructed framework.
The project embraced a variety of teaching and learning methods in the classroom and onsite
at the castle:
 Self-guided learning
 Site visits
 Use of new technology.
In tandem with this project, the students were also given the opportunity to visit the castle as
part of their studies in geography, investigating travel and tourism in the area. This provided a
different perspective and reinforced the importance of the castle from Norman times to the
present day. It also provided the stimulus for considering a cross-curricula week focusing on
the castle as a theme to study in Year 7.
The last session coincided with an OFSTED inspection. The inspectors praised the project
because it encouraged independent learning. The students were able to demonstrate their
knowledge of the castle and its history through the film they created, written work, illustration
and oral accounts. The teacher’s aim for this project fitted well with OFSTED criteria:
1.
Develops a good core knowledge of the subject
History: a wide-ranging understanding of history including important aspects of local, national
and world events and histories of other cultures.
2.
Develops good understanding of the importance of the subject and appropriate
skills
History: Develops an understanding of why history is important, key historical concepts, and
that historical interpretation can change over time.
3.
Uses an active participatory approach
History: promotes an enquiry-based approach asking pupils to explore and investigate.
th
Source: Generic Grade Descriptors, OFSTED, 29 July 2013
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About the project
The project involved a combination of classroom-based sessions and three visits to Sandal
Castle. The first visit involved the whole class, and the students were tasked with finding
evidence to prove or disprove the hypothesis.
The second visit involved a self-selecting group of students who were interested in exploring
artefacts and interpretation of the site. They were given the opportunity to create a film display
for the visitor centre. This part of the project allowed the participants to make a real
contribution to interpreting the castle for visitors.
The third and final visit to the castle was a celebration event and an opportunity to view the
students’ work.
What the students learned and how we measured this learning
The project allowed students to learn in many ways and to develop new skills.
The teacher and a researcher measured progression by working closely with a group of six
students throughout the project. The researcher carried out pre-evaluation discussions,
focusing on expectations and aims with the teacher. With the students she explored their
existing knowledge of the castle and skills in areas that were likely to be important to the
project (interviewing skills, research skills, photography, using an iPad etc). The researcher
asked the students to rate their skills. At the end of the project a similar discussion and rating
session was carried out. The students considered that they had improved skills in just about all
of the areas identified. One or two had been over confident at the start of the project giving
themselves ratings of 6 out of 5 or 1 million out of 5 but gave more realistic scores at the end.
The only exception to this being their scores on using an iPad which tended to go from 4 to 1
million or a gazillion, fuelled by the enthusiasm of the second session at the castle.
The researcher also observed the sessions, took photographs and noted how the students in
the group interacted with each other as well as how they engaged with the project.
Step by step
Below we have summarised the four main steps of the project to allow teachers to recreate the
activity easily.
1) Starting with the hypothesis
The starting point for the project was the hypothesis.
‘Sandal Castle, an unimportant castle with little place in history?
To what extent is this statement a true reflection of Sandal Castle throughout time?’
The teacher explained to the students that their task was to prove or disprove the hypothesis.
From the first classroom session, students were encouraged to guide their own learning. They
were not familiar with this approach and so the teacher carefully scaffolded activities to
facilitate this style of learning.
The initial sessions in the classroom focused on exploring what students knew about Sandal
Castle that could help them to address the hypothesis and what skills and tools they could use
to fill in the gaps in their knowledge. These were well-structured, highly interactive lessons
(examples of the workbooks can be found in the resources section of this case study).
Students contributed their thoughts and findings enthusiastically. The teacher modelled how to
find out one piece of information about the castle’s history before asking the students to use
similar skills to carry out a larger piece of work, for example to create a time line charting the
main events in the castle’s story.
Throughout the sessions the teacher praised the students for their responses, contributions
and positive behaviours.
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2) Site visit 1
Having investigated the background to Sandal Castle, the students were invited to visit the
site. The students arrived at Sandal Castle equipped with their workbooks (these can be found
in the resources section of this case study). They were tasked with finding evidence to support
or disprove the hypothesis. The cohort was divided into three groups that rotated around three
different activities:
 A session with the curator
 An exploration of the castle
 An exploration of the interpretation of the site.
2a) A session with the curator
When the first group met the curator, the session was a little stilted with the students
appearing to be unsure of what to ask. They had prepared questions the previous week in
class but realised quickly that some of questions were not relevant. From the curator’s
prompting and answers, they were able to build a context and so target questions more
carefully.
The second and third groups, however, were full of questions. This may be because they had
already toured the ruins or the visitor centre. One interesting aspect of the session was that
the curator did not hide the fact that he was not able to answer all of the questions easily. He
illustrated that it was not quite so straightforward to answer questions such as “How much did
the castle cost?” “How long did it take to build?” “Why did the Duke of York die here?” He also
used reference books to look up the answers to some questions.
The curator took care to make the answers relevant to the students, relating the building of the
castle to home DIY projects, which can appear to go on for a great length of time.
When discussing the battles, it quickly became apparent that the students were confused by
the names of battles and wars, and dates although they had a general impression of what the
battles were about. This was a good starting point for the curator to ask questions and for the
students to fill in the gaps.
2b) An exploration of the castle and interpretation on site
While the first group was meeting the curator, a second group was tasked with considering the
location of the castle and the view over surrounding countryside to assess the significance of
the castle’s situation. The students were then asked to sketch an outline of the ruins to identify
the style of castle and to see if this might provide clues to its significance. Finally, they were
asked to identify parts of the castle including the curtain wall, the well etc.
2c) An exploration of the interpretation in the visitor centre
A third group looked at the significance of the castle in the present day. They were looking for
evidence of who uses it now, why people visit, etc. For this task the students considered the
interpretation around the site and in the visitor centre. They searched for evidence that the site
is still valued or considered to be important today as further proof of its significance in the past.
The site visit worked well with students being able to view, gather and examine three different
types of evidence. The workbook provided a framework for their visit and focused their
attention on specific tasks. The students obviously enjoyed their trip, were lively, enthusiastic
and engaged:
I wasn’t that interested in history but this trip is great, really interesting. It makes it
real. I think I might study history at A’ level. (Student)
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Work continued in the classroom in the intervening weeks and a small group was invited to the
castle again to create a piece of interpretation that would be displayed in the visitor centre.
3) Site visit 2: creating a film for the visitor centre
A second visit to the castle was arranged for a group of nine self-selecting students. Led by a
Wakefield Council Museums Learning Officer, this session was a great success. It was highly
interactive, fun and encouraged the students to think critically about the hypothesis, explore
findings in some depth and develop skills. The purpose of the day was to create a film for the
visitor centre. This approach will work for many visits to historic sites and to learning in
general. The film provided a focus for the learning and in order to make a good film, the
students had to demonstrate:
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Research skills
Interviewing skills
Presentation skills
Understanding of their subject
Photography, filming and editing skills.
3a) The day in detail
The learning officer provided a session plan for the day (this can be found in the resources
section of this case study).
Throughout the visit, the session leader brought the students’ focus back to the original
hypothesis. The link was constantly reinforced between their research project and the different
ways they were being invited to explore the evidence at the castle. Evaluation methods were
integrated into the session so progression could be measured throughout the day.
The learning officer began by asking the students to describe, in one word, how they were
feeling. Each student had to choose a different word.
The answers included:
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Excited
Epic
Nervous
Scared
Happy.
She explained what was going to happen during the day and then asked the students how
they felt again. All seemed both more relaxed and more excited.
The day was built around the hypothesis but it involved several short, hands-on activities and a
variety of teaching techniques to keep the students engaged. The tasks built on skills and
knowledge incrementally and, importantly, allowed their confidence to build at the same time.
The areas covered by the sessions included:
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Historical enquiry
Chronological understanding
Significance
Interpretation
Object handling
Interviewing
Using an iPad
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o
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o
Photography
Videoing
Presenting
Film editing.
Throughout the day the learning officer asked lots of open questions. She often said there was
no right or wrong answer but queried why the students had given a certain answer, which
meant they had to constantly challenge and clarify their thinking.
3b) Using artefacts
Using artefacts (in this case: a candlestick, half of a cannon ball and a dish) definitely brought
the wow factor to the session at the same time as introducing the students to the idea of
primary sources. The objects had been chosen carefully to reflect different aspects of life at
the castle.
The learning officer built up a sense of anticipation before allowing the students to handle the
carefully wrapped objects. She also ensured the students clearly understood the rules about
handling artefacts:
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Clean hands
No wandering around
Pick the object up using both hands
Keep the object on or over the table
If something is in a container, it stays in the container because it is fragile.
The learning officer used the objects in a number of ways:
 To instruct the students on how to handle precious and delicate objects carefully.
 To encourage the students to use their imagination as well as their knowledge to
identify the object.
 To focus on what else they needed to know to understand the role their object played in
the life of the castle.
The use of artefacts built up to the ‘main event’, exploring the most dramatic ‘artefact’, the
ruins of the castle itself.
3c) Using the IPad
Using the iPad as a teaching tool worked well. It generated excitement and curiosity, and the
students said that this was the best part of the project. The students worked in three groups of
three. When the learning officer introduced the iPads, the students were invited to ‘play’ with
them until they had worked out how to use the camera function and gained a degree of
confidence.
After this they were given their task: to make an instructional film about object handling and
other artefacts in the visitor centre. The students had to understand their subject matter well
enough to convey it to the general public. The final part of the project was to make a film about
the castle in the ruins.
The learning officer then showed the students simple applications to enhance their image:
 Paper Camera to create different formats on photographs such as sketch, neon and
retro etc.
 8mm, an app that works in a similar way but on video footage.
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For final editing, the learning officer showed the young people how to use the simple
slideshow/film-editing programme, Splice. This programme allowed the students to edit both
stills and video footage, add borders and transitions. They could also add audio.
For the final film, which would be displayed in the visitor centre, the session leader took the
best bits of each from the groups’ film clips and edited together a more professional version
using iMovie.
Although the students enjoyed working with the iPads it would be possible to replicate this part
of the project using Flip cameras or digital cameras and a computer editing package such as
iMovie or Realtime.
3d) Feedback
Feedback on this session was excellent. The session leader asked how the students felt at the
end of the session and the words they used reflected the success of the day. They said:
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Glad
Excited
Happy
Proud
Energetic
Achievement
Elated
Tired.
Post evaluation showed that they clearly thought they had learned about the castle – scores
going from 2, on average, to 4 or 5.
4) Site visit: celebration visit
The third and final visit was arranged to celebrate the achievements of the students. This
session premiered the final film to be displayed in the visitor centre and it was an opportunity
to thank the students and celebrate their achievement through the project.
Comments from the students
I liked that we got to go to Sandal Castle and we got to explore it.
Really liked being able to give back my information about the castle. It made me feel
like I knew all about it.
I just liked being able to go out to somewhere different instead of the classroom. It’s
a much better experience and it gives you more to learn about.
I liked how interactive it was.
It was good to go there and figure it all out for yourself and use the tablet. It was
cool.
It encourages independent learning.
We learned that there are so many ways that the castle was important from the
battles, the people who lived there, why it was built.
I liked history before, but I like it even better now.
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If we ever went anywhere before they were just telling you what to do. It was just like
“We’re going to look at this painting and tell you a fact about it”… Yeh, yeh, yeh
sure!
The teacher’s perspective
The teacher at the academy was keen for her Year 7 students to find out about Sandal Castle
by carrying out:
 initial research
 site visits
 follow up work.
Through enquiry she hoped students would gain a greater understanding of the status of the
castle, both locally and nationally. This joint project gave students the opportunity to see a
worthwhile outcome to their efforts: their work being on display in the castle’s visitor centre, for
others to use and learn from. Another benefit was that the student would be able to work with
experts, museum staff and the castle curator, to inform their work.
Success would mean a project that:
 engaged students
 supported their learning effectively
 raised aspiration.
All of these objectives were achieved.
Progression
At the start of the year all of the students knew snippets of information about the castle from a
range of periods but were unable to make links between historical periods. Completing the
project has allowed them to build up a narrative of a local site over 1000 years and be able to
link it to national events. Pre-project, most were at Level 3 in terms of understanding
chronology; now 90% of the group have reached a Level 6.
Most of the students have moved from Level 2 to Level 4 in Enquiry.
In terms of Continuity and change the impact was striking, with a move from Level 4 to Level 7
in some cases.
Costs
The teacher was able to use school minibuses to transport the students.
This project was tailored to meet the needs of Cathedral Academy, however, Wakefield
Council Museums run full day sessions entitled Enquire, discover and film which are charged
at £110. They also offer half-day iPad sessions that cover simple animation and storytelling.
These sessions cost £55.
Wakefield Council Museums covered the costs of display materials and goody bags for the
students taking part in the project. To find out more visit our links section.
Replicate the project
 When writing your scheme of work and lesson plans, consider any suitable local
heritage venues that can bring your teaching to life.
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 Carry out pre- and post assessment work and actively involve students in evaluating the
programme.
 Contact local heritage venues to find out if they run sessions with school groups or if
they are prepared to work with you on a visit or series of visits tailored to the needs of
your students. Most venues are keen to welcome students on educational visits and
provide age appropriate activities.
 Ask if local experts are prepared to talk to your students either on site or via a Question
time style web link.
 Build interest and excitement by setting a hypothesis for the students to investigate.
This approach supports students in developing personal learning and thinking skills and
research skills.
 Use artefacts and objects to bring the wow factor. Venues may have loan boxes or
object boxes relevant to your topic.
 Explore the potential of technology as an exciting and engaging tool to reinforce
learning. Asking students to create an instructional video to teach others is excellent for
communication, presentation skills, teamwork and personal learning and thinking skills.
 Equally, asking students to create a piece of interpretation to share their knowledge
need not involve technology they can create posters, flyers, poems or stories as part of
a display.
 Build confidence by asking questions and encouraging students to clarify their thoughts.
 Celebrate the achievements of the students involved in the project.
Writing blogs
As part of this project we worked with a professional PR consultancy to provide blogs in a PR
campaign which also included a press release highlighting the findings of this case study.
Blogs can be used in different ways. The main reason to blog is to engage an audience. Blogs
reflect personality of the writer. Asking students to write a blog about their experiences is an
excellent literacy device. It encourages students to focus their thoughts on a particular angle of
a visit or experience. Blogs have to be concise, no more than 600 words, and they have to be
engaging, using simple language. Some writers use blogs to spark debates as a way of
gaining publicity, others use them to share good practice or to keep others up-to-date with
relevant information.
Before you start, think about what you want to achieve from blogging.
1) Are you able to maintain a blog? A one-off blog is not effective, and series of blogs requires
commitment and planning. It is essential to have consent from the individuals or parents of any
students involved.
2) Keep the language simple but engaging.
3) The blogs for this project are available in the resources section. They can be used as
examples or templates to get you started.
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Links
Watch a video about this project, showing the students at work.
Download all the resources for this case study.
Find out more about Wakefield Council Museums.
Alongside the project English Heritage also ran a social media campaign to share experiences
and learning through a blog. Click here to follow the story of the project.
Project Team
Project Manager
Karen Merrifield
Shirley Braviner
Vicky Shearman
Louise Bragan
Lynne Minett, Education Manager (North of England) English Heritage
Freelance Education Consultant (Innovate Educate Ltd)
Head of History Cathedral Academy
Senior Cultural Development Officer - Learning and Skills Wakefield
Council Museums
Learning Officer Wakefield Council Museums
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